Stereotype, prejudice and discrimination
- Stereotype (cognitive): a fixed, over-simple set of beliefs about a whole group, e.g. "Everyone from that town is lazy". It ignores differences between individuals.
- Prejudice (affective): a negative attitude or feeling towards a group, usually based on a stereotype, e.g. disliking people from that town.
- Discrimination (behavioural): unfair action, e.g. refusing them a job or a house.
Prejudice and discrimination can exist separately: a person may hide prejudice because of the law, or discriminate without strong dislike just by following a rule. Discrimination can be individual or built into systems (institutional).
Sources of prejudice
- Learning: from family, peers, media and one's community, through association, reward and modelling. A prejudiced personality (low tolerance, rigid thinking, respect for authority) can also form.
- Strong social identity and in-group bias: when "my group" is very central to who I am, I favour my group (in-group) and look down on others (out-group).
- Scapegoating: the majority blames a smaller, weaker group for its own problems (economic, social or political).
- Kernel-of-truth concept: people say "there must be some truth" in a stereotype, and stretch one case to the whole group.
- Self-fulfilling prophecy: expecting a group to fail leads to unfair treatment and fewer chances; the group then does worse, which seems to "prove" the belief.
Strategies for handling prejudice
Tackle the causes: stop the learning, weaken narrow identities, break the self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Education and learning opportunities: teach facts, other cultures and the harm of prejudice, especially to children.
- Intergroup contact (contact hypothesis): people from different groups meet and work together. Contact works best when there is equal status, a shared (superordinate) goal, cooperation not competition, close enough interaction, and support from authorities (teachers, leaders, laws). Sherif's summer-camp studies showed shared goals reduced hostility between rival groups.
- Highlight individual identity: see each person as a unique individual, not "one of them".
- Build a larger shared identity: e.g. "we are all students of this school" or "we are all Indians".
- Help the target group build confidence and skills to break the self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Laws and rules against discrimination (e.g. constitutional protections).
Try it
In free play, predict: which single condition lowers prejudice the most? Switch them on one at a time to check. Then think of one stereotype you have heard about a group. Write one fact or one person you know who breaks it. That is the "individual identity" strategy in action.
Key formulas and definitions
- Stereotype (think) β Prejudice (feel) β Discrimination (do)
- Sources: learning Β· social identity & in-group bias Β· scapegoating Β· kernel of truth Β· self-fulfilling prophecy
- Reduce: education Β· contact (equal status, shared goal, cooperation, authority support) Β· individual identity Β· shared identity
Worked examples
1. Label each: (a) "Girls are bad at maths." (b) Feeling irritated when a girl joins the maths club. (c) Not picking her for the maths quiz team.
(a) Stereotype (thought), (b) prejudice (feeling), (c) discrimination (action).
2. After a factory closes, some people blame migrant workers for the job loss. Which source of prejudice is this?
Scapegoating: a weaker group is blamed for problems it did not cause.
3. A teacher believes children from a slum will fail, gives them less attention, and they score low. Explain.
Self-fulfilling prophecy: the expectation led to unfair treatment, which produced the poor result that seemed to confirm the belief.
4. Two rival hostels fight often. Design a contact plan that would reduce prejudice.
Give them a shared goal both need (e.g. repairing the common water tank), with equal roles, cooperation rather than competition, and support from the warden. Mix members in small teams so people get to know each other as individuals.
Common mistakes
- Using prejudice and discrimination as the same word. Prejudice is a feeling; discrimination is an action.
- Thinking any contact reduces prejudice. Contact needs equal status, shared goals and cooperation, or it can increase conflict.
- Believing a stereotype is true because of a "kernel of truth". One case does not describe a whole group.
- Forgetting that the self-fulfilling prophecy starts with the prejudiced person's expectation.