Introduction to Psychology

(EXT3120)
Unit 7: Prejudice

Extension Department

Gabriel D. Chilumpha
 Learning Outcomes
1. Define prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination

2. Explain how prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination emerge

3. Discuss the consequences of prejudice, stereotypes and

discrimination

4. Evaluate the different strategies for preventing and dealing with

prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination
Meaning of Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Discrimination
1. Prejudice
• Refers to an unjustifiable negative attitude toward an out-group or toward the
members of that out-group
• Prejudice can take the form of disliking, anger, fear, disgust, discomfort, and
even hatred
2. Stereotypes:
• These are positive or negative beliefs that we hold about the characteristics of
social groups
• Stereotypes based on gender, ethnicity, or occupation are common in many
societies
3. Discrimination
• Refers to unjustified negative behaviors toward members of outgroups based on
their group membership
• Discrimination is the behavioral manifestation of stereotypes and prejudice in
the outside world
• Discrimination can be put into different categories, such as sexism and racism
Human Desire for Less Mental Work – Social Categorization
❑ According to psychologist Gordon Allport, prejudice and stereotypes
emerge in part as a result of normal human thinking
❑ The human mind must think with the aid of categories. Once formed,
categories are the basis for normal prejudgment
❑ This process of categorization applies to the social world as well, as
we sort people into mental groups based on factors such as age, sex,
and race
❑ Researchers have found that when it comes to categorizing
information about people, we tend to minimize the differences
between people within groups and exaggerate the differences between
groups
❑ People share the tendency to put individuals into social categories
because it makes it easy for us on how we should act or react to
individuals without undertaking a rigorous mental process
Why do stereotypes last long?
Why do you think it is difficult to overcome the use of stereotypes?
Indeed, why are stereotypes long-lasting? Here are some reasons
why stereotypes can be very long-lasting

❑When people encounter instances that disconfirm their

stereotypes of a particular group, they tend to assume that those
instances are atypical (meaning rare) subtypes of the group
❑People selectively recall instances that confirm their stereotypes
and forget about disconfirming instances
❑ People’s perceptions are influenced by their expectations
Origin of Stereotypes
1. Culture
• Stereotypes are embedded in the culture in which we are raised and live,
and they are conveyed and reproduced in all the usual socio-cultural
ways - through socialization in the family and at school, through repeated
exposure to images in books, television, and newspapers
2. Social reality
• The suggestion is that a group's culturally distinctive behaviour patterns
or the particular socio-economic circumstances in which it finds itself
could provide the seed-bed in which certain stereotypical perceptions
about it could readily flourish
3. Society positions
• The fact that groups occupy very different positions in society, some
having manifestly more wealth, power, and privilege than others, suggests
a third origin of stereotypes
Consequences of Prejudice and Stereotypes
1. They lead to various forms of discrimination
• It unnaturally forces on others who are targets of their prejudice a false
social status that strongly influences who they are, what they think, and
even the actions they take
• Prejudice shapes what the targets of prejudice think about the world and
life in general, about the people around them, and how they feel about
themselves
2. Stereotypes may lead to performance reduction
• There are threats caused by the knowledge of cultural stereotypes
• When people start to believe the stereotypes that people have against
them, their self-esteem and confidence are affected, hence their
performance in tasks or at school is negatively affected
Consequences of Prejudice and Stereotypes
3. They lead to crimes and lost productivity
• People acting out their prejudices cause domestic violence, crime, and
death
• Prejudices can also lead to the loss of billions of dollars in lost
productivity, property loss, and expense to society, such as the cost of
court trials and social services provided to victims, including
psychological counseling, in dealing with dysfunctional (abnormal
behavior) elements of society
4. Prejudice and stereotypes result in self-fulfilling prophesies
• A self-fulfilling prophecy is when a person unknowingly causes a
prediction to come true, due to the simple fact that he or she expects it to
come true
• Even the victims (targets) of the stereotypes and prejudice internalize
stereotype messages, living up or down to those expectations
Factors Affecting Stereotype Activation and Use
1. cognitive busyness
• The more we are distracted with some other cognitive task, the more we
will need to rely on stereotypical short-cuts in our social judgements
• This is also known as the extent of our reoccupation with other concerns
2. Heightened emotionality
• Being anxious can increase the likelihood of stereotypical judgment
• Discomforting experiences can lead people to view a group behaving in a
particular way differently from the normal position, thus creating a
temporary group stereotype
3. Degree of interdependence
• This is the degree to which the people holding the stereotype and the
target of the stereotype are interdependent
• Put less formally, if one person depends on another for the achievement
of something, they may be more inclined to look for information specific
to that person and be less reliant on a group stereotype
Strategies for Reducing Stereotype, Prejudice, and Discrimination
1. Changing Social Norms
• Social norms define what is appropriate and inappropriate, and we can
effectively change stereotypes and prejudice by changing the relevant norms
about them
• One variable that makes us less prejudiced is education, which can be used as a
tool to change social norms
2. Intergroup Contact
• One of the reasons that people may hold stereotypes and prejudices is that they
view the members of outgroups as different from them
• A good way to reduce prejudice is to help people create closer connections with
members of different groups
3. Use of Counter-Examples of Role Models
• Exposing students to successful role models from groups that are seen
negatively helps in reducing negative stereotypes
• The strength with this advantage is that it also reduces the self-fulling prophecy
effects on the victims of the prejudice
Conditions Necessary for Intergroup Contact to be Successful
1. For one, contact will only be effective if it provides information
demonstrating that the existing stereotypes held by the individuals
are incorrect
• When we learn more about groups that we didn’t know much about
before, we learn more of the truth about them, leading us to be less
biased in our beliefs
• But if our interactions with the group members do not allow us to learn
new beliefs, then contact cannot work
2. Intergroup contact is also more successful when the people
involved in the contact are motivated to learn about the others
• One factor that increases this motivation is interdependence - a state in
which the group members depend on each other for successful
performance of the group goals
• The importance of interdependence can be seen in the success of
cooperative learning techniques, such as the jigsaw classroom
THANK YOU