Prejudice, Discrimination and Stereotyping
Prejudice, Discrimination and Stereotyping
Introduction
Prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping, are major issues in the society. Prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping, have affected the wellbeing of members for the past decades. They have led to unequal distribution of resources among different communities, races and groups. They have also affected psychological, mental and emotional health of the victims. Efforts to prevent prejudice, discrimination and stereotyping, have proved ineffective due to lack of knowledge. Inadequate knowledge on the origin of stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination has made it difficult to promote diversity. Thesis: Understanding the origin of prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination helps in developing strategies to eliminate such issues and promote diversity. It facilitates the use of strategies such as social learning, recategorization and contact to promote diversity.
Prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination
Prejudice is the preconceived and unfavorable judgment towards individuals because of age, race, gender and other personal qualities. Stereotype refers to a thought adopted about certain kinds of individuals which does not reflect reality. Discrimination is a prejudicial treatment of people based on being members of a particular group or perceived membership in a group. The members are discriminated on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion etc. In group refers to a social group to which an individual psychologically identifies as being a member. An out group is a social group by which a person does not identify. For instance, individuals may find it psychologically important to view themselves based on their gender, culture, race etc (Fiske, Gilbert & Lindzey, 1998).
Based on my experience in the social world I can relate to discrimination. I have been discriminated because of belonging to a minority group. I identify with stereotype, discrimination, prejudice because I have witnessed prejudice, stereotyping and discrimination of people in my community and society (Fiske, Gilbert & Lindzey, 1998).
Different psychologists have explained the origin of stereotype and prejudice in the society. Psychologists have developed different theories to explain the origin of stereotype and prejudice. The social identity theory explains the social origin of prejudice. Prejudice results from intergroup relationships that entail identifications with an in groups and a negative attitude towards an out groups. Individuals classify themselves within certain groups based on various factors including race, age among others. These categories help an individual define his or her environment. In groups are groups that a person categorizes himself and out groups are groups that a person does not fit. People in the society perceive themselves similar to other members of an in group. Therefore, the categorization has lead to a negative attitude towards out groups and members of the out-group.
Stereotype originated from social categorization just like prejudice. According to psychologists, people use stereotypes to explain social events, justify activities of certain groups and differentiate in-groups from out groups. People categorize themselves into in groups and adopt certain thoughts about the out-group. People view their in group positively and members of the out-group negatively. People fail to understand members of the other group and instead adopt thoughts that do not reflect reality. In addition, cognitive factors have led to stereotyping and prejudice in society. Cognitive processes have played an important role in stereotyping and prejudice. The brain has developed mechanisms that enable people to interact well. Some of the mechanisms allow people to predict behavior and characteristics of the target person. The predictions are based on the physical qualities and social group in which the target person belongs. Stereotyping is as a result of how information is organized and processed. Information is processed into categories to minimize the quantity of information and extend knowledge about the world by identifying similarities among the members. Information about people is put in the categories according to similarities between them and possible categories. Human beings belong to different categories such as race, sex, ethnicity etc. Selecting the suitable category for human beings is hard, and this results to stereotypes as people are grouped in the wrong category. The information stored is used to make influence about new members. The new members are grouped into various groups depending on their characteristics. Categorization is an automatic process and hence stereotyping and prejudice are inevitable consequences of categorization. Prejudice and stereotyping are automatic. Prejudice results from the division of the society. Prejudice beliefs are as a result of how people cognitively simplify the world. People simplify the world via categorization. People tend to see members of an out group similar to each other or all alike. However, they see the members of the in group unique. People tend to be sensitive to differences in their group instead of the out-group. Therefore, the mental construction of the world and members of an out group and in group leads to prejudice (Fiske, Gilbert & Lindzey, 1998).
Additionally, prejudice and stereotyping have been common since human history. Several factors have led to prejudice and stereotyping of members. The factors include competition for resources and social inequality. Inequality in the society has led to a different perception and attitude towards members of certain groups. People of a certain group are considered unequal because of their race, gender or any other characteristic. Further, psychologists have associated prejudice and stereotyping with competition for resources. Prejudice is as a result of conflict between different groups for the scarce resources. In this case, privilege groups in the society work to protect their status. The groups deprive other groups’ resources (Fiske, Gilbert & Lindzey, 1998).
Stereotype is the most significant in the society and my community. People in the society and my community are stereotyped according to their association with a certain group. For instance, people in the society are stereotyped based on their gender, race, origin etc. People categorize individuals into different racial and gender groups based on their characteristics (Sharma & Sharma, 1997).
Affective and cognitive influences promote stereotyping by encouraging automatic categorization of individuals. Stereotyping and discrimination have a negative effect on individuals as it causes psychological and emotional harm. Emotional trauma and mental health effect resulting from discrimination and stereotyping cause harm to a person. They affect the emotional health and mental health of individuals. Other effects include employment loss and inequitable distribution of resources. Prejudice in the society can be reduced by increasing the contact between various groups. This enables group members to know each other and eliminate negative stereotypes. Encouraging interaction between groups enables members to acknowledge differences between members. Also, prejudice can be reduced through social learning and recategorization. Members of different groups should see themselves as members of one social group. Also, children should not be taught prejudice. We are developing self fulfilling prophecies in our society. The attitude, behaviors and judgements, can be changed by encouraging members of different groups to interact and get to know each other (Esses, Glick & et al, 2012).
Conclusion
In conclusion, prejudice, discrimination and stereotypes are common in the society. They have had a negative effect on members as they have led to psychological, mental and emotional damage. They have also affected the distribution of resources. Social recategorization, social learning and social contact can help eliminate prejudice, discrimination and stereotype by changing people attitude.
Reference
,Esses, V.M., Glick, P., & et al. (2012). Sage Handbook of Prejudice, Stereotyping and Discrimination. New York: Sage
Fiske, S.T., Gilbert, D., & Lindzey, G. (1998). The Handbook of Social Psychology. UK: Oxford university press
Sharma, R., & Sharma, R.K. (1997). Social Psychology. New Delhi: Atlantic publishers & Dist
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