Attitudes of Prejudice Identify a common stereotype.

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Attitudes of Prejudice

  1. Identify a common stereotype.

A common stereotype is that all French people smell of garlic.

  1. What characteristics are used to create this stereotype?

We know that French restaurateurs typically use large quantities of garlic in their cuisine so we assume that they probably do so in their everyday cooking at home and therefore we conclude that ‘all French people smell of garlic’.

  1. Name the three parts of prejudice.

The three parts of prejudice are:

  • Cognitive – which is having stereotype beliefs about members of a group.
  • Affective – having strong feelings or emotions towards the members of the group, these feelings are usually negative.
  • Behavioural – which is the act of discriminating or acting against the said group or its members.

  1. Give one reason why we use stereotypes.

It is human nature to divide people into categories by use of stereotyping.  We notice certain characteristics about people and ignore information that does not quite fit the group so we can slot them into a specific category, these categories are not always correct and accurate.  The term cognitive miser has been used to refer to this shortcut in getting to know someone as an individual and grouping them with others.

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  1. Describe and evaluate two theories as to the cause of prejudice.

  • The first theory I will address is the Social Identity Theory – An Interpersonal Explanation.  

One of the basic cognitive processes is categorisation.  Several psychologists believe that we group things into either an ‘in-group’ (us) and an ‘out-group’ (them)  Tajfel ’71 called this social categorisation and it is the first step in the stereotyping process.   He showed that we discriminate against people in the out-group.  

  • We favour the in-group over the out-group – we discriminate.  We think members of the out-group ...

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