Editing Content :: Admin Scraper

Chapter

Content type

Position

Value

accompanied by dislike or hatred, the and show low adjusting capacity, affective component. Prejudice may also anxiety, and feelings of hostility against get translated into discrimination, the the outgroup. behavioural component, whereby people • A strong social identity and ingroup bias : behave in a less positive way towards a Individuals who have a strong sense of particular target group compared to social identity and have a very positive another group which they favour. History attitude towards their own group boost contains numerous examples of this attitude by holding negative attitudes towards other groups. These discrimination based on race and social class or caste. The genocide committed are shown as prejudices. by the Nazis in Germany against Jewish • Scapegoating : This is a phenomenon by people is an extreme example of how which the majority group places the prejudice can lead to hatred, blame on a minority outgroup for its own social, economic or political problems. discrimination and mass killing of innocent people. The minority is too weak or too small in Prejudices can exist without being number to defend itself against such shown in the form of discrimination. accusations. Scapegoating is a group- Similarly, discrimination can be shown based way of expressing frustration, and without prejudice. Yet, the two go together it often results in negative attitudes or very often. Wherever prejudice and prejudice against the weaker group. discrimination exist, conflicts are very • Kernel of truth concept : Sometimes likely to arise between groups within the people may continue to hold stereotypes because they think that, same society. Our own society has witnessed many deplorable instances of after all, there must be some truth, or discrimination, with and without ‘kernel of truth’ in what everyone says prejudice, based on gender, religion, about the other group. Even a few community, caste, physical handicap, and examples are sufficient to support the illnesses such as AIDS. Moreover, in ‘kernel of truth’ idea. many cases discriminatory behaviour can • Self-fulfilling prophecy : In some cases, be curbed by law. But, the cognitive and the group that is the target of prejudice emotional components of prejudice are is itself responsible for continuing the more difficult to change. prejudice. The target group may behave Social psychologists have shown that in ways that justify the prejudice, that prejudice has one or more of the following is, confirm the negative expectations. sources : For example, if the target group is • Learning : Like other attitudes, described as ‘dependent’ and therefore prejudices can also be learned through unable to make progress, the members association, reward and punishment, of this target group may actually behave observing others, group or cultural in a way that proves this description to norms and exposure to information that be true. In this way, they strengthen encourages prejudice. The family, reference groups, personal experiences the existing prejudice. and the media may play a role in the learning of prejudices (see section on STRATEGIES FOR HANDLING P REJUDICE ‘Attitude Formation and Change’). People who learn prejudiced attitudes Knowing about the causes or sources may develop a ‘prejudiced personality’, would be the first step in handling 116 Psychology Reprint 2026-27