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Introduction
Prejudice in the Context of Social Psychology, Prejudice is defined as a baseless and rather negative attitude towards some fellows of the society or group. Some of the common feelings related to stereotyping includes negative and discriminating beliefs regarding other members (Smith, 2014). The essay has critically evaluated the psychological theories and concepts related to prejudice. Specifically the racial attitudes and racial conflicts have been discussed critically. Furthermore, some of the theories related to racial attitudes have also been discussed so that the viewpoints of different theorist about the topic can be gained.
Different Approaches and Theories Related to Social Psychology and Prejudice
In the view of Delgado and Stefancic (2012), the classical theory of racism prejudice is based upon the idea that prejudice emerges from social norms. The model presented by Cantril (1941) has also suggested that formation of different groups in the process of socialization are the extreme forms of prejudice and discrimination. In the same manner, the research conducted by Lundahl and Wadensjo (2015) revealed that predictions made by group norm theory were highly significant in studying and understanding prejudice racism and stereotyping.
In contrast, one of the other early theory on prejudice studied variation using Authoritarian personality approach. The approach stated that prejudice is stemmed in an individual through strict upbringing. The strict upbringing makes a person hostile towards out-group members, and the person also strictly follows authority figures and possessed moral standards (McFarland, 2010).
As psychology started to become more focus, the idea and study of prejudice also changed, psychologist started to focus on intergroup changes and its driving forces. Thus the new developed model stated that stereotyping is developed nit due to acceptance of inner group norms, but is formed due to interaction with the outer groups (Dovidio, 2010). On the contrary, Bodenhausen, Macrae and Sherman (2016) stated that stereotyping is the result of direct and biased observations of the attitudes of other member people.
In the view of Dovidio (2010), prejudice is based upon different factors such as sex, race, age nationality, economic or social status, religion or social orientation. It is also stated that prejudice may result in stereotyping and discrimination. In addition Bar-Tal, Graumann, Kruglanski, and Stroebe (2013) claimed that in most of the cases prejudice is based upon stereotypes. In contrast, Tilcsik (2011) stated that stereotyping can either be positive or negative. However, it can lead towards wrongful assumptions or might also result in discrimination and prejudice. For example, Bodenhausen, Macrae, and Sherman (2016) stated that the refusal from the white man to drink water from the same fountain from which a Black individual has drink is based on racial biasness towards the Black man. Since no factual information is possessed by the White man for not drinking the water, from the fountain and thus the decision is made on a preconceived idea related to Black man.
In the view of Tilcsik (2011), stereotyping is the is creation of an individual’s own thought, expectation, or the beliefs related to other person or community, however, the belief is created without gathering factual knowledge about the person. In contrast to the above explanation, Dovidio (2010) stated that most of the time the stereotype thinking related to a person is created when a similar incident reoccurs. For example, Brohan, Slade, Clement, and Thornicroft (2010) stated that if an individual found some of the teenagers lazy and irresponsible, it lead to the creation of a stereotype that all the guys belonging to similar age group are lazy and irresponsible. Correll, Judd, Park, and Wittenbrink (2010) on the other hand, explained that discrimination is the refusal of giving equal rights to others based on stereotyping and prejudice, therefore, it can be stated that discrimination is not a belief but it is actually the application of a belief.
A review of the past literature has revealed that in the post-civil era a positive trend and influence has been seen in white Americans towards African Americans, however, most of the studies conducted in the modern era has revealed that a significant decrease has been observed in the radical attitudes of the white Americans towards the Black (Cooper, Roter, Carson, Beach, Sabin, Greenwald, and Inui, 2012). Oswald, Mitchell, Blanton, Jaccard, and Tetlock (2013) stated that today Americans overwhelmingly have endorsed the principles of equality and integration towards the people of other society.
In contrast to the above assumption, most of the researchers still argue that however a steady decline has been observed in the behavior of the racism or negative attitude of white Americans, the underlying negativity has been guised in a new manner. As observed by Schmidt and Nosek (2010), most of the white however, do not blatantly oppose the ideals of racial equality or integration, however, they have shown the unconscious biasness towards minorities and other ethnic groups.
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