Evaluate psychological theories of the development of prejudice and discrimination, discuss how prejudice and discrimination can be reduced and consider some of the effects that prejudice and discrimination might have on a group or individual.
To describe the term prejudice, means to have an unjustified or incorrect attitude towards an individual based solely on group membership or identity. It is prejudging or forming opinions, usually in a negative way, due to a lack of understanding or being provided the wrong information. The Oxford Dictionary online defines prejudice as:
‘Preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual
experience.’ (oxforddictionaries.com 2010)
To describe the term discrimination, means to treat another individual or group, in an unfair or disapproving way. It is favouring one individual over another, simply because of a difference they may have, that does not fit in with their perceptions. The Oxford Dictionary online defines discrimination as:
‘The unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.’ (oxforddictionaries.com 2010)
There are a number of diverse theories of prejudice and discrimination, which are based on personality and environmental/cultural factors. The personality factors include the authoritarian personality and the frustration-aggression hypothesis, whilst the environmental/cultural factors include, social identity theory, relative deprivation, conformity, and the realistic conflict theory. This essay will look at how prejudice and discrimination can develop through two of these theories; the authoritarian personality, and the realistic conflict theory. It will also look at the effects it can cause for an individual and what ideas can be used to help reduce prejudice and discrimination. Finally a conclusion will summarise the information presented (Malim T and Birch A 1998)
The authoritarian personality is where the personality type of an individual, underlies prejudice behaviour. Prejudice arises from the possession of specific personality characteristics, some of which include having respect for authority, having intolerance of others who are weaker and extreme views of rank and power. Individuals who possess these characteristics tend to react with hostility towards other groups who don’t possess them. The authoritarian personality was examined by using two questionnaires which was the F-Scale (Fascism scale), measuring attitudes by agreement/disagreement with particular statements, and the E-Scale (Ethnocentrism scale), measuring beliefs a person’s own ethnic group is superior to others. (Class Handout 1)
Adorno argued that the authoritarian personality has origins in childhood, children developed love/hate relationships from their parents who adopted excessively harsh and disciplinarian regimes. From Adorno’s theory, there is an explanation to why some individuals are more than likely to be prejudiced than others, however, the failure of this theory, is because there is no explanation to why large numbers of individuals can be prejudiced. (Cardwell M et al 1996)
Realistic conflict theory is when competition between groups causes prejudice. When two groups want to achieve the same goal, but only one can be successful, hostility is produced between them. Realistic conflict theory explains hostility is part of prejudice, but it is not the origin of prejudice. Sherif conducted the Robbers Cave study and it is often used as support for realistic conflict theory which was a number of boys at summer camp being divided into two groups and then given competitive tasks to compete against each other.
The intergroup conflict caused prejudice, the study created winners and losers, those who were successful, seen themselves as more superior to the others and wanted to protect what they had won, whilst the losers who wanted to be successful and win, seen the winners as enemies. Sherif’s theory was supported by Andreeva’s study of the Russian youth camp, the same results were found. However Tyerman and Spencer argued that when all individuals already knew each other well, competition did not produce such negative effects. During Sherif’s experiment, the boys had not previously formed relationships. (Twining K 2001)
The effects of being prejudiced or discriminated against can lead to serious problems for the individual concerned, either in their life or on their health. If an individual who is prejudiced against begins to believe in what is being perceived about them, this could cause them to behave in a different way to how they would normally behave. It could also damage or lower their self-esteem and/or lead to mental health problems. For instance, they could become frustrated at what is being said about them, which in turn could cause stress and/or anxiety for the individual. Individuals dealing with these problems tend to become depressed or isolated and lonely, which can then cause the individual to self-harm or have suicidal thoughts.
In order to reduce prejudice and discrimination, it would be helpful to recognise the causes. There are many diverse ways in which to reduce prejudice and discrimination, psychologists have categorised these ways as either taking an intergroup contact approach, or a social education approach.
The aim on an intergroup approach is to increase the contact between members of two different groups, although research suggests that contact must be cooperative for it to be effective. The more contact there is, the more the prejudice is reduced because group members begin to perceive other group members as individuals and not just as someone belonging to the opposite group.
The aim of a social education approach is to educate young children about the implications of prejudice and discrimination. The idea is, if children know how it feels to be prejudiced against, the less chance there is of them growing up with these prejudices. Whilst this approach has shown to have made some difference, it cannot take into account the influence provided at home by the child’s parents, unless they too realise their prejudices and try to reduce them. (Class Handout 2)
To summarise the above text presented, prejudice and discrimination are views and opinions, usually negative, which can be developed through a number of theories; authoritarian personality being one example, and realistic conflict theory being another example. The authoritarian personality is based on personality facts, whilst a realistic conflict theory is based on environmental/cultural factors. Both of these theories have been researched by numerous studies and conclusions have then been made upon their findings.
The effects that prejudice and discrimination can have on an individual, can lead to long-term problems throughout their lives, and this can only be stopped from affecting other people’s lives if prejudice and discrimination is reduced or stamped out altogether. The numerous approaches that have been made or studied up to now have helped to reduce some prejudices, but they are not fully guaranteed to wipe prejudice out altogether. However with the importance to society of reducing prejudice, more theories will continue to be put forward until the result can be achieved.
