Difficulty: Intermediate | Prerequisites: Chapter 5 (Genes, Culture, and Gender), basic understanding of attitudes
This chapter explains why prejudice forms, how it persists and why even well-intentioned people can show bias. It sits at the intersection of social cognition, group dynamics and motivation. If you are behind on norms, conformity and social identity from earlier chapters, review those first. The material matters because prejudice questions appear heavily on exams and because the three-source framework (social, motivational, cognitive) is a structure professors love to test.
Prejudice is not caused by one thing. It comes from social pressures, motivational needs and cognitive shortcuts all working together. Even "good" people can show bias because normal psychological processes (categorisation, conformity, self-esteem maintenance) produce it automatically unless actively challenged.
Prejudice
A negative attitude toward a group and its members. It is emotional, evaluative and often automatic. It can include fear, dislike, disgust or resentment.
In simple terms, prejudice is a feeling about a group, not a behaviour or a belief.
Stereotype
A generalised belief about a group. Stereotypes simplify the social world. They can be positive or negative and are often resistant to change.
Think of it as a mental shortcut your brain uses because there is too much information to process individually.
Discrimination
Unjustified negative behaviour toward a group. It can be individual (one person's actions) or institutional (policies and systems).
In simple terms, discrimination is prejudice in action.
Racism
Prejudice or discrimination based on race. It can be personal, structural, systemic or institutional.
Sexism
Prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender. Modern sexism is often subtle, disguised and indirect.
Explicit attitudes
Conscious beliefs a person can report directly.
Implicit attitudes
Automatic unconscious associations. A person may consciously reject prejudice but still hold implicit biases because culture repeatedly exposes them to stereotypes.
Social dominance orientation (SDO)
A preference for hierarchy between groups. People high in SDO believe some groups should dominate others and that inequality is natural or desirable.
Authoritarian personality
A personality style emphasising obedience to authority and hostility toward outgroups. Characterised by rigid thinking, respect for authority and intolerance of difference.
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one's own group or culture is central or superior. People naturally evaluate others using their own culture's standards.
Realistic group conflict theory
The idea that competition over resources (jobs, power, land, money) creates prejudice between groups.
Social identity theory
People derive part of their self-concept from group membership. Because people want positive self-esteem, they favour their own group (ingroup bias).
Ingroup / outgroup
Ingroup: the group you belong to. Outgroup: the group you do not belong to.
Ingroup bias
Favouring your own group over others. Does not require hatred; simply dividing people into groups can produce favouritism.
Minimal group effect
Even meaningless group assignments (e.g. randomly assigned to "blue" vs "green") produce bias.
Terror management theory
Awareness of death increases the need for meaning and group identity. Fear of mortality causes people to defend cultural worldviews, strengthen ingroup loyalty and reject outsiders.
Scapegoat theory
People blame vulnerable groups for their problems, especially during economic hardship, uncertainty or stress.
Displaced aggression
Redirecting anger toward safer targets.
Outgroup homogeneity effect
The belief that outgroup members are all similar ("they all act the same"), while seeing one's own group as more diverse.
Own-race bias
Better recognition of faces from one's own racial group, due to greater experience and attention.
Illusory correlation
Perceiving a relationship that does not exist. If minority members are more memorable, people may incorrectly associate them with negative acts.
Fundamental attribution error
Overestimating personality causes while underestimating situational causes of behaviour.
Group-serving bias
Explaining ingroup successes positively ("our success = skill") and outgroup successes negatively ("their success = luck").
Just-world hypothesis
The belief that people get what they deserve. It helps people feel safe but can produce victim-blaming.
Self-fulfilling prophecy
Expectations influence behaviour and cause the expectations to come true (e.g. a teacher expects low performance, gives less encouragement, and the student performs worse).
Stereotype threat
Fear of confirming a stereotype harms performance. The anxiety itself reduces performance; it does not require belief in the stereotype, just awareness of it.
Subtyping
Treating exceptions as special cases ("she's smart for that group"), which preserves the stereotype.
Subgrouping
Creating smaller stereotype categories, separating "good" and "bad" subgroups instead of abandoning the original bias.
Professors frequently test the distinction between prejudice (feelings), stereotypes (beliefs) and discrimination (actions). These three are related but separate. A person can hold a stereotype without feeling prejudice, or feel prejudice without discriminating. Prejudice can exist without open discrimination: someone may consciously reject racism but still feel discomfort unconsciously.
Social dominance orientation (SDO): People high in SDO believe some groups should dominate others and that inequality is natural. They tend to support hierarchy, unequal systems and tougher policies.
Authoritarian personality: Characterised by rigid thinking, respect for authority and intolerance of difference. Children raised in strict, punitive homes may become more authoritarian.
Ethnocentrism: People naturally evaluate others using their own culture's standards. This is extremely common historically.
Conformity: People often express prejudice because peers do, family does or institutions reward it. Prejudice can spread socially even without deep personal hatred.
Institutional support: Social institutions (laws, media, schools, hiring systems) can maintain prejudice. Even if individuals change their attitudes, institutions may continue producing unequal outcomes. Racism, for instance, can be structural, systemic and institutional, not only personal hatred.
Frustration and scapegoating: When people are frustrated (goals blocked), they often seek someone to blame. Scapegoat theory explains that people blame vulnerable groups, especially during economic hardship, uncertainty or stress. Displaced aggression redirects anger toward safer targets (e.g. a worker yelled at by a boss takes frustration out at home).
Realistic group conflict theory: Competition over resources (jobs, power, land, money) creates prejudice. Even arbitrary competition between groups can create hostility, supporting the idea that conflict itself breeds prejudice.
Social identity theory (very important): People derive part of their self-concept from group membership. Because people want positive self-esteem, they favour their ingroup: "if my group is good, I feel good." You do not need hatred to produce bias. Simply dividing people into groups creates favouritism, loyalty and discrimination (the minimal group effect).
Terror management theory: Fear of mortality causes people to defend cultural worldviews, strengthen ingroup loyalty and reject outsiders.
Categorisation: The social world is too complex, so humans group people into categories. The problem: categorisation exaggerates similarities within groups and differences between groups.
Outgroup homogeneity effect: People see outgroup members as all similar but see their own group as more diverse.
Own-race bias: People recognise faces from their own racial group better because they have more experience with and pay more attention to ingroup faces.
Distinctiveness and illusory correlation: Rare events become memorable. If minority group members are more noticeable, people may incorrectly associate them with unusual (often negative) events, creating false stereotypes.
Fundamental attribution error: Overestimating personality causes while underestimating situations. This feeds prejudice because people attribute outgroup members' difficulties to character rather than circumstances.
Group-serving bias: Ingroup successes are explained by skill; outgroup successes are explained by luck.
Just-world hypothesis: Believing people get what they deserve helps people feel safe, but it produces victim-blaming ("poor people must deserve poverty").
Self-fulfilling prophecy: When a teacher expects low performance, they give less encouragement, and the student performs worse. The expectation creates the outcome.
Stereotype threat: The anxiety of potentially confirming a negative stereotype about one's group reduces performance. This does not require believing the stereotype, only being aware of it. Stereotype threat has been demonstrated across many groups and many types of performance.
Subtyping: Treating exceptions as special cases ("she's smart for that group") preserves the overall stereotype.
Subgrouping: Creating smaller categories within a stereotyped group ("good" and "bad" subgroups) instead of abandoning the original bias.
Students often think prejudice requires conscious hatred. It does not. Implicit biases operate automatically, and people can hold prejudiced feelings while consciously rejecting them.
Students sometimes confuse prejudice (a feeling), stereotypes (a belief) and discrimination (an action). Exam questions test whether you can identify which component is being described.
Students often assume the just-world hypothesis is always harmful. It serves a psychological function (making the world feel orderly and safe), but its dark side is victim-blaming.
Students sometimes think ingroup bias requires hostility toward the outgroup. The minimal group effect shows that mere categorisation, with no hostility at all, produces favouritism.
Implicit bias research has influenced hiring practices, policing reform and educational policy. Stereotype threat research informs testing environments (e.g. removing identity cues before exams). Institutional prejudice explains why systemic inequality can persist even when individuals hold egalitarian beliefs.
⚠️ The three components (prejudice = feelings, stereotypes = beliefs, discrimination = actions) are tested constantly. Know which is which.
⚠️ The three-source framework (social, motivational, cognitive) is a favourite essay structure.
⚠️ Social identity theory and ingroup bias are core concepts that reappear across chapters.
⚠️ Stereotype threat is a specific, well-researched phenomenon that professors often use in short-answer questions.
⚠️ Know the difference between explicit and implicit attitudes.
⚠️ Subtyping vs subgrouping is a subtle distinction that appears in multiple-choice questions.
Fill in the blank: Prejudice is a ________, stereotypes are ________, and discrimination is ________. (feeling, beliefs, actions)
True or false: Ingroup bias requires active hatred of the outgroup. (False. Mere categorisation is enough.)
Fill in the blank: The tendency to see outgroup members as all alike is called the ________ effect. (outgroup homogeneity)
True or false: Stereotype threat requires the person to believe the stereotype is true. (False. Awareness alone is enough.)
Fill in the blank: ________ theory explains how competition over resources breeds prejudice. (Realistic group conflict)
Q: Distinguish between prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination. Give an example that shows all three.
A: Prejudice is a negative feeling toward a group (e.g. discomfort around a certain ethnic group). A stereotype is a generalised belief (e.g. "that group is lazy"). Discrimination is behaviour (e.g. not hiring someone from that group). A person could hold the stereotype, feel the prejudice and then act on it through discrimination, or hold any one without the others.
Q: Explain social identity theory and how it leads to ingroup bias.
A: Social identity theory says people derive self-esteem partly from group membership. To feel good about themselves, people favour their ingroup. This does not require hostility; the minimal group effect shows that even random group assignment produces favouritism.
Q: What is stereotype threat, and how does it differ from believing a stereotype?
A: Stereotype threat is the anxiety that one might confirm a negative stereotype about one's group, and this anxiety impairs performance. It does not require the person to believe the stereotype is true. Simply being aware of the stereotype in a testing situation is enough to trigger it.
Q: Compare the three sources of prejudice (social, motivational, cognitive) and give one example from each.
A: Social sources include conformity (expressing prejudice because peers do), institutional support (systems that maintain inequality) and authoritarian personality. Motivational sources include frustration and scapegoating (blaming vulnerable groups during hardship) and social identity needs (boosting self-esteem through ingroup favouritism). Cognitive sources include categorisation (simplifying the social world into groups), illusory correlations (linking rare groups with rare events) and the fundamental attribution error.
Prejudice builds directly on Ch. 5's discussion of norms, culture and group identity. Social identity theory reappears in chapters on group influence and conflict. Stereotype threat connects to the self-concept material in earlier chapters. Scapegoating and displaced aggression tie directly to Ch. 10 (Aggression).
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