Changes In Perception Of Prejudice And Discrimination

Introduction

Prejudice and discrimination play an important role in maintaining these inequalities. In this paper we analyzed how stereotypes can impede people's better intentions and lead to inaccurate assumptions, perceptions, and judgments. We examined how and when children develop prejudice and the different forms that prejudice can take later in life. Finally, we concluded with suggestions for how stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination might be overcome.

Analysis

The terms stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination are generally used by social psychologists to refer to our cognitive, affective, and behavioral biases, respectively. Stereotypes can be defined as an overgeneralized belief about a group of people, such as “African-Americans are athletic”, or “Asian-Americans are smart.” Stereotypes can be negative, positive, or fairly neutral statements about members of social category groups like gender, race, or age (Wood & Sonleitner, pp 1-17).

Prejudice, on the other hand, is always the expression or experience of a negative attitude or feeling towards another person or group, based on some group-based characteristic. For example, statements such as “I hate Jews” or “Homosexuals disgust me” would be expressions of prejudice. Like stereotypes, prejudice can develop at a very early age, especially if a child is surrounded by family and friends who express such negative beliefs (Steele, 613-629).

Prejudice is often described as a negative feeling or attitude towards members of an outgroup. While stereotypes might inadvertently distort people's memory and perceptions of others, prejudice can lead to the dehumanization of others, to intergroup hostility and violence, and sometimes even to mass murder and group destruction. One need only think of the tens of thousands of Jews needlessly murdered in the Holocaust, the recent genocide of Tutsis by the Hutus in Rwanda, the continuing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, or even our own tragedy of September 11th, to appreciate the horror that intergroup hatred can cause (Spencer, Steele & Quinn, pp 4-28).

Prejudice within the has not taken such epic proportions in recent years, and yet stories about homosexuals, Blacks, and Hispanics being beaten or murdered because of their group membership continue to emerge. It was just four years ago when Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was brutally beaten and left to die in freezing temperatures simply because he was gay. And how can we forget the image of several White Los Angeles police officers severely beating African-American Rodney King, in an act that appeared to be racially charged? These are both examples of the acts of violence that are directed towards members of minority groups due to prejudice and hate (Sagar & Schofield, pp 590-598). When do these attitudes form and how do they develop over the years?

Children first show signs of prejudice at a very early age Children's prejudice levels are often quite high around the age of five and will usually decrease, or show greater flexibility, as the child grows older. Some studies suggest, however, that the prejudice displayed in early childhood returns as children reach the pre-teen years and beyond, particularly if ...