Theories of Prejudice

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Evaluate Biological, Psychodynamic And Interpersonal Theories Of The Origins Of Prejudice And Critically Examine Ways In Which It May Be Reduced

Prejudice can be defined as a learned, preformed, and unsubstantiated judgement or opinion about an individual or a group, either favourable or unfavourable in nature. In modern usage, however, the term most often denotes an unfavourable or hostile attitude towards other people based on their membership of another social or ethnic group. The distinguishing characteristic of a prejudice is that it relies on stereotypes about the group against which the prejudice is directed. It includes such phenomena as racism, sexism, and ageism.

There are many causes of prejudice.  It can be argued that there are two main categories to which most of these causes belong.  Firstly prejudice may depend on the personality or other characteristic of an individual who is prejudiced.  Secondly environmental or cultural factors may produce prejudice, for example a dramatic increase in the level of unemployment within any given country may lead to greater prejudice and discrimination within that country.

Some Biological Psychologists believe that prejudice can be inborn. They believe that some people are just naturally more prejudiced than others, regardless of how they were raised, educated, and interacted socially. One documented theory is the Genetic Similarity Theory of sociobiologist Philippe Rushton. This theory states that prejudice towards others is a result of evolution. People are programmed to bias against others unlike themselves based on "survival of the fittest". They want only their genes to be reproduced and passed on, thus wanting them to suppress others who are not in the "in-group". This primarily deals with racial and ethnic prejudices.

While the biological explanations of prejudice formation are controversial, they are based in other accepted scientific theories, such as evolution. Still, while they may seem to somewhat explain why prejudice exists in some people and not in others, biology has not been proven to be a good predictor of prejudicial behaviour.

There are a few explanations for the existence of widespread prejudice. One of these is based in social norms. Social norms are what the specific society either officially or unofficially agrees is "normal" for everyone; they are often unspoken laws by which we all abide. For example, a person wouldn't usually wear two totally different shoes or go yelling through a library, it would be considered "weird" because it broke the social norms we all live by. Prejudice works the same way.

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Often whole societies can be prejudiced against outsiders of any type. Being prejudice against, having dislike and/or distrust for, and mistreating anyone seen as different might be a social norm; something that a member of the society does just because it's what they're "supposed to do".

Another theory of prejudice formation is called Realistic Conflict Theory. This theory is based on the idea that in some cases, different groups are in competition for limited resources, such as food, water, and money. They then band together, based on their ethnic heritage, to take what they believe should be theirs. ...

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