Introduction
This chapter discusses the topics of stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination by going in a
depth discussion on the history and nature of the problem. It also will address the evolutions of
discrimination, the underlying causes, and how it affects people in the social environment. The chapter
will highlight on some of the ways to reduce the effects of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes
among the people. Also, Chapter Five discusses different studies, theories, and examines racism,
stereotyping through different examples of research studies.
Racism
Racism is defined as the prejudice and discrimination that is based on the individual racial
background (Kassin et al. 2021). In this chapter, it begins with a deep discussion on how the nature of
the problem is by taking a look into racism and its current forms and challenges. It gives an outlook on
the change of racial prejudice and how it played a role in the people having bias opinions. It also
describes how people have implicit racism, which is described as by operating unconsciously or
unintentionally. The chapter gives examples of different scenarios of racism and how they were
concerned in very violent acts and socially unacceptable situations that causes a negative effect such as
police brutality. The chapter gives descriptions on the different types of racism such as aversive racism.
Aversive racism is described as racism that concerns ambivalence between fair minded attitudes (2021).
Racism has been suggested from several studies that it comes from anger. An example study comes
from James Davies. James Davies conceptualized the J Curve theory of Revolution that was based on the
racial riots. Its finding resulted in how anger played a major role in what the person was lacking (Chadee,
2022). This gave many researchers the view of how a vast majority can feel emotionally towards a group
or affiliation.
Discrimination
Sexism was also discussed along with gender discrimination as well. There was an examination
of sexism from a researcher by the name of Phillip Goldberg, who asked students from a women college
to evaluate writing styles and content. The study showed a higher rating when it was suggested the
content was written by a male than a female. This left Goldberg to wonder if women were even
prejudiced against themselves which causes the study to gain a vast amount of attention. Kassin also
suggested that stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination are caused by a number of factors. Social
categorization was described as being classified into groups that is based on common attributes (2018).
They added that perception plays a role into this due to the person thought process. Chadee also
informs how people use self-categorization as a way to attach emotional significance (Chadee, 2022).
However, people can be placed in other groups that can make them feel lower than human. This is
called dehumanizing. Dehumanization was described in the chapter and how it played in history such as
with the Nazi influence that pinned the Jews into concentration camps and treated them inhumanely. It
also added how people have little empathy for people in the outgroup due to them not identifying them
as humans or close to their association.
Theories
The Realistic Conflict theory was introduced in this chapter as having it very own conflict or
challenges that is caused by the other group limited means of resources or other valuables. For example,
one group may have more difficulty getting a job due to having limited resources. This can cause
frustration or anger from the losing group and the other group can become threaten leaving them in
competition with one another. Kassin stated “people all over the world believe that their own nation,
culture, language and religion is better and more deserving than others” (2018). Another theory that
was introduced was the Social Identity Theory. One expert also informs how Social identity theory
predicts an association between group identification and self-esteem (Shepherd, 2015). This theory was
introduced as people favor ingroups over the outgroup to enhance their own self esteem. An example
that this was explained was the how people can boost their own confidence through their own affiliation
with their group. It also added how these group would belittle the other groups as a way to boost their
own self esteem.
Resolutions
Social Psychological solutions were introduced on combatting prejudice, stereotypes and
discrimination through research. Research has discovered that a number of factors to help in describing
the stigma. An example used in the jigsaw classroom experiment. It was used to study on de-segregating
classrooms to see how they would behave racially and academically (2018). The resulted revealed the
children had grown to like each other, develop a higher self-esteem, and also improvement on test
scores for the minority students. The children also began to consider the other children to be more part
of them in a group setting and develop a mutual repsect for their classmate. The chapter also adds how
trust, belonging, and reducing the stereotype threat plays a factor on how we treat each other. Another
solution was exerting self-control to where the question was implied on if people can control their
impulses and rise above them. Also, social plays a factor in people lives on how they view their peers
and their sense of the world. The authors also remind the readers how we can learn from each other to
make us less vulnerable towards prejudices.
Conclusion
To conclude, this chapter has shown through research, example, and data how prejudices has
impacted and caused negative effects throughout history. It has also given more insight towards how
people would categorize themselves to make another ethic group feel less as a way to boost their own
confidence. Also, examples of when people dehumanized other human beings while examining their
emotional state of being less empathetic towards others not like them. Research has shown how
through different simulation how positive change can take effect. It also tests humans on their self-
control and how they stereotype others. However, it is at a cultural level that positive change has
potential to be created. Providing positive imagery on diversity within social group can help weaken the
stereotypical stance towards different social groups. Also, cultural sensitivity can help bring about
positive attitude towards other people cultural norms and help create positive change towards people
attitudes beliefs.
References
Chadee, D. (2022). Theories in social psychology (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN:
9781119627883.
Kassin, S., Fein, S., & Markus, H. R. (2021). Social psychology (11th ed). Cengage Learning. ISBN:
9780357122846
Shepherd, D., & Sigg, N. (2015). Music Preference, Social Identity, and Self-Esteem. Music
Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 32(5), 507–514. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2015.32.5.507
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