Question

what are some negative consequences of prejudice

Answer 1

• Whether or not there is a biological root to prejudice is unknown; in any case, it is clear that prejudice occurs between biologically similar people who hold different beliefs.• Prejudices are easy to learn, although childhood prejudices are not necessarily maintained. For example, Rohan and Zanna (1996) found the greatest similarity of beliefs for parents and their children with egalitarian values. Children whose parents hold prejudices may be exposed to competing views and not hold their parents’ prejudices.• A schoolteacher (Jane Elliot) in Riceville, Iowa, divided her class by eye color, telling the blue-eyed students that they were better than the brown-eyed students and giving them special privileges; in less than half an hour, the formerly cohesive class was split along eye-color lines, with the blue-eyed students taunting and punishing the others, and the brown-eyed students feeling so low that their academic performance was depressed. The next day, the eye-color roles were reversed, and the day after that, the class was debriefed. Even 20 years later, the students claimed the exercise had a life-long impact (see Eye of the Storm and A Class Divided in the film list).A. The Way We Think: Social Cognition• One explanation for prejudice is that it is the inevitable byproduct of categorization, schemas, heuristics, and faulty memory processes in processing information.1. Social Categorization: Us versus Them• The first step in prejudice is the creation of group categorizations. Once we have mental categories, we group stimuli into them by similarities, downplaying differences between members of a group and exaggerating differences between members of different groups.2. In-group bias• In-group bias is the especially positive feelings and special treatment we reserve for people we have defined as being part of our in-group (the group with which a person identifies and of which he or she feels a member), and the negative feelings and unfair treatment we reserve for others simply because we have defined them as being in the out-group (groups which an individual does not identify with).• Tajfel postulates that the underlying motive behind in-group bias is self-esteem maintenance and enhancement. To study this, he invented the minimal group paradigm, in which arbitrary groups were formed by putting strangers together on the basis of trivial criteria. Even in these minimal groups, people still displayed in-group bias by rating in-group members more highly, liking them better, and rewarding them more. People even preferred to take less money as a reward for their own group, if it meant beating the out-group, rather than taking more money but being beat by the out-group.3. Out-Group Homogeneity• Another consequence of social categorization is the out-group homogeneity bias, the perception that those in the out-group are more similar (homogenous) to each other than they really are, as well as more similar than the members of the in-group are (i.e., the belief that “they’re all alike”). Quattrone and Jones (1980) showed that Rutgers and Princeton students watching videos of other students (purportedly from Rutgers or Princeton) making decisions would judge the student’s selection as typical of others at his school when the person went to the rival school but not if they went to the student’s own school (Figure 13–2).4. The Failure of Logic• There are two reasons why it is almost impossible to get a person holding a deep-seated prejudice to change his or her mind. First, it is primarily the emotional aspect of attitudes that makes a prejudiced person hard to argue with; logic is not effective in countering emotions—people will ignore or distort any challenge to their belief. Second, people with strong prejudices have a firmly established schema for the target group(s); this will lead them to pay attention to, and recall more often, information that is consistent with their beliefs than that which is inconsistent. Thus stereotypes become relatively impervious to change.5. The Persistence of Stereotypes• Table 13–1 displays the beliefs of students about Americans, Japanese, Jews, and African-Americans from 1933 to 1969. Over 30 years, the stereotypes remained fairly stable, becoming somewhat less negative. By 1969 many students felt uncomfortable with the task and only agreed to do it if it was made clear they were displaying their knowledge of societal stereotypes and not their own beliefs.

Answer 2

Like the wide variety of prejudices that exist in societies around the world, the consequences of the prejudices and the behavior influenced by them are similarly varied. Prejudice affects the everyday lives of millions of people across the globe. Prejudice held by individuals 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. Importantly, prejudice greatly influences what people expect from the future and how they feel about their chances for self-improvement, referred to as their life chances. All of these considerations define their very identity as individuals.People acting out their prejudices cause domestic violence, crime, death, and the loss of billions of dollars in lost productivity, property loss, and expense to society, such as cost of court trials and social services provided to victims including psychological counseling, in dealing with dysfunctional (abnormal behavior) elements of society. Other prejudicial behavior, such as male teachers favoring calling on male students in a classroom, may be more subtle (less obvious). But its effect can be just as broad-sweeping as the more violent consequences of prejudice. Opportunities in life are lost and personal relationships damaged when people act upon their prejudice. When not acknowledged and confronted, prejudice negatively impacts the lives not only of the victims, but of those holding the prejudice.Prejudice can impose very dramatic barriers or invisible barriers on individuals. For example, in the United States, many children are raised with certain beliefs, one being the American Dream. The children are taught if they apply themselves and work hard enough and set their sights on what they want most, they can achieve it by persistence. They are not taught about certain social barriers, such as racial or gender discrimination in hiring or in job promotions, that may present themselves throughout their lives that counter the progress made by solid work habits.