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. As of late this has shown itself in the "ethnic cleansing" happening in Eastern Europe.
Two Psychodynamic theories of prejudice have been suggested: the frustration – aggression hypothesis and the theory of the authoritarian personality. Dollard et al (1939) argued that aggression against individuals and groups is caused by frustration. Frustration leads to the build up of an unpleasant state of arousal, which is released in the form of aggression. It is not often possible to show aggression or hostility towards the source of the frustration, because it is too powerful. This leads to displacement, the aggression will be directed towards a substituted target for example, if somebody is made angry by their teacher, they may shout at their younger sibling.
The frustration - aggression hypothesis provides a plausible account of one of the factors causing prejudice. However, frustration can lead to a constructive attempt to remove its source or to a resigned attitude as well as to aggression. In criticism, the frustration – aggression hypothesis doesn’t explain why aggression tends to be directed at one particular group, for example Asian people rather than Jews.
Adorno et al (1950) looked at individual differences in prejudice. They suggested that people who have an authoritarian personality are most likely to be prejudiced. Adorno et al argued that personality development is shaped by a child’s parents. In normal development parents strike a balance between disciplining a child and the child’s self expression. However, if parents adopt an excessively harsh disciplinary regime which doesn’t allow the child self expression, then the child will displace aggression against the parents onto some other target. If the child displaced aggression towards the parents, the consequences would elicit too much fear. Adorno et al suggested that targets for displaced aggression are most likely to be those who are perceived as being weaker or inferior, such as members of ethnic or deviant groups, who can’t fight back and who possess the hostility towards authority, repressed in the child itself.
Adorno et al questioned 2,000 US college students and others to discover whether those who expressed anti-Jewish and other prejudices, had political, social and economic factors in common. They also sought information on the child rearing styles of the students parents – whether they were strict, easy going, or fair and just, whether their parents used punishment and if they did so, then what kind and for what offences.
Asking people to answer yes or no to extreme statements cannot give an accurate impression of their attitudes. Adorno’s theory doesn’t explain wall prejudices: many people have specific prejudices and yet show no authoritarianism in their general approach to life. Adorno’s authoritarian personality reflects only right wing authoritarianism, although people might equally hold authoritarian left wing views.
Prejudices are not stable features of a personality acquired by a harsh childrearing style. Many people who hold prejudices may have had indulgent parents and many who are raised according to strict principles, rebel against their upbringing and become more liberal in their views.
Milton Rokeach (1956) suggested that some people are likely to become prejudiced, regardless of their political preferences. Rokeach called this ‘the dogmatism scale.’ Dogmatic people are convinced that they are always correct and they refuse to listen to anybody else. They exaggerate their own importance whilst also being anxious about themselves and what other people think of them. They are ethnocentric in the way that they exaggerate any differences between the group to which they belong and other groups, claiming that their group is right and any other group must therefore be wrong.
Conformity can be used to explain the interpersonal theory of prejudice. If you belong to a group that expresses prejudice towards other groups, it is likely that you will conform to this group norm. This is likely to be the result of normative social influence, i.e., a desire to be liked by other members of the group and also to avoid being rejected. It may also be the consequence of informational social influence if you felt uncertain about what is regarded as correct behaviour.
Social identity theory was suggested by Henri Tajfel (1978, 1981). Social identity leads to categorisation and social comparison. Comparisons are made between groups in order to increase self esteem. In group favouritism and out-group negative bias enhance social and personal esteem and lead to biased perceptions of in and out group members, i.e., prejudice. Tajfel demonstrated this in his studies of the minimal group which showed how social identity can be formed with ease. In one study, 14 and 15 year old boys estimated the number of dots seen in brief exposures. They were then assigned at random to one of two minimal groups; the over estimators and the under estimators. After that, they gave points which could be exchanged for money, to other individuals who were identified as belonging to the same group or to the other group. Nearly all of the boys awarded more points to those in their own group than to those in the other group, demonstrating the effects of social identity.
Prejudice and discrimination are common in most cultures. It is claimed to be a bad thing and it is important that society seeks ways in which to reduce it. However it should be pointed out that not all prejudices are bad, for example, a person who is scared of heights and will not go anywhere near an edge with a drop is pre-judging that they will not like going near the edge and so has a prejudice about the situation. This is not a bad prejudice to have and could increase safety as the person has not got the risk of falling off of the edge.
Sternberg (1995) suggests that since prejudice is the result of ignorance, encouraging people to learn another language, visit other countries, live as members of other cultures and generally be exposed to the diversity of human groups and lifestyles will help to reduce prejudices in general. However, this type of advice is not very practical for many people as not many people have the means to do any of these things.
It has been argued that prejudice and discrimination between two groups in conflict can be reduced if they agree to pursue some common or super ordinate goal. Aronson and Osherow (1980) tried to reduce prejudice in schools by means of co-operation or common goals. The schools in Austin, Texas had recently been desegregated. This led to concerns about the racial conflict which may result from having black and white children in the same classes. One class of black and white children was divided into small groups for a learning task, for example one group was given the task of finding out about the life of Abraham Lincoln. Within each group, every child was made responsible for learning a different part of the information. Each member then taught what he or she had learned to the other group members so they would all be able to take a test. After that, the children received a mark based on their overall knowledge of that topic.
When properly carried out, the jigsaw classroom technique can transform competitive classrooms in which many students are struggling into cooperative classrooms in which once-struggling students show dramatic academic and social improvements (and in which students who were already doing well continue to shine). Students in jigsaw classrooms also come to like each other more, as students begin to form cross-ethnic friendships and discard ethnic and cultural stereotypes. Finally, jigsaw classrooms decrease absenteeism, and they even seem to increase children’s level of empathy (i.e., children’s ability to put themselves in other people’s shoes). The jigsaw technique thus has the potential to decrease prejudice dramatically in a multi-cultural world by revolutionizing the way children learn.
To conclude, all of us have many irrational feelings (prejudices) and constantly develop new ones, all of us must learn to recognize these prejudgments as soon as possible and correct them. It is hard, sometimes, because these prejudices show themselves in subtle ways known only to you, e.g. holding on to your purse or valuables especially carefully while you are next to a black man, being reluctant to vote for a woman or a Jew, dreading your daughter dating someone of another race, believing women shouldn't serve in combat, feeling a little resentment if a female becomes your supervisor, wondering if a well dressed black person is into crime, avoiding sitting next to an old or a fat person, feeling reluctant to work with a homosexual, etc. Race, gender, age, attractiveness, education, wealth, ethnic background, etc. tell us almost nothing about the basic nature of a specific individual. If we prejudge a person on any of these bases, and most or all of us do, we are prejudiced. Low-prejudice people with compunction have a good chance to correct their errors. We don't yet know how to get the high prejudiced people to see the irrationality and unfairness of generalizing from a stereotype to a specific unique individual. But, maybe they will eventually learn to have compunction. Although it is not easy and clearly requires effort, time, and practice, prejudice appears to be a habit that can be broken.
Emily Cohen
Page 39, A2 Level Psychology, by Michael W. Eysenck and Cara Flanagan)
New Introduction To Psychology by Richard Gross, Rob McIlveen, Hugh Coolican, Alan Clamp and Julia Russell.
http://www.jigsaw.org/history.htm