Difficulty: Intermediate | Prerequisites: Familiarity with social identity theory from the Group Influence notes.
Prejudice is a hostile attitude toward someone based solely on their group membership. Stereotypes are beliefs about a group's attributes. Four frameworks explain prejudice: ideological (belief systems like RWA and SDO), economic (competition over resources), motivational (protecting self-esteem via in-group bias) and cognitive (mental shortcuts like illusory correlation). Each framework captures a different piece of why prejudice persists.
Prejudice (Allport's definition)
An aversive or hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a group, simply because they belong to that group and are therefore presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to it. In simple terms, disliking someone just because of the group they are in.
Stereotype
A belief about the personal attributes of a group of people. Prejudice typically contains stereotypes, but not all stereotypes are prejudice. Even "benevolent" stereotypes (e.g. "Black people make great dancers") can be harmful.
Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)
A personality orientation characterised by high willingness to submit to perceived established authorities. People high in RWA tend to show increased prejudice when their in-group is threatened.
Social Dominance Orientation (SDO)
A preference for social hierarchy and group-based inequality, rooted in social dominance theory. People high in SDO support policies that maintain hierarchical group structures.
Realistic group conflict theory
Prejudice results from competition over scarce resources between groups. Hostility and conflict are greatest when resources are limited.
Minimal group paradigm
An experimental design where people are divided into groups on trivial criteria (e.g. painting preferences) to test whether mere categorisation alone produces in-group bias. It does.
Outgroup homogeneity effect
The tendency to perceive out-group members as less distinct and more similar to each other compared to in-group members. In simple terms, "they all look alike" while "we are all individuals."
Illusory correlation
The tendency to associate co-occurrences of rare events. When a minority group and a negative behaviour are both statistically uncommon, people overestimate how often they occur together.
Prejudice is an attitude (hostile or aversive). Discrimination is prejudice in action (racism, sexism). Stereotypes are beliefs about group attributes. Prejudice typically contains stereotypes, but a stereotype can exist without hostility. Benevolent stereotypes are still harmful because they constrain expectations and reduce individuals to group-level assumptions.
1. Social/Ideological Explanation
Prejudice results from generalised attitudes that vary across individuals. People are socialised into these traits through larger belief systems.
RWA: people high in RWA submit to established authorities and show increased prejudice when the in-group is threatened. RWA scores correlate with support for domestic immigration policies (but not policies in other countries), moderated by perceived threat to the in-group ("undermines the nation's culture").
SDO: people high in SDO view society as hierarchically structured. SDO scores correlate with support for harsher policies both at home and abroad, moderated by perceived competition between social groups.
Study: participants voted on the Arizona "stop and identify" immigration law. SDO predicted support for harsh policies domestically and internationally; RWA predicted support only for domestic policy.
2. Economic/Resource-Based Explanation
Prejudice stems from real or perceived competition over scarce resources.
Robber's Cave experiment: 22 boys randomly divided into two groups, each forming a group identity. A competitive tournament was introduced with prizes for the winning group. Result: inter-group conflict escalated to raids on cabins and violent behaviour. Competition over a tangible reward produced hostility between groups that had no prior reason for conflict.
3. Motivational Explanation
Prejudice results from the motive to maintain a positive self-image. Self-worth is partly derived from group membership, so threats to the group's status feel like threats to the self. People compensate by raising in-group status or lowering out-group status.
Social identity theory: three stages leading to prejudice.
Social categorisation: we categorise ourselves and others into groups.
Social identification: social identities are a source of meaning, belonging and self-worth. We evaluate our own group by comparison to others.
Prejudice: in-group bias and out-group derogation follow from the need to maintain positive group distinctiveness.
Minimal group paradigm study: schoolboys divided into groups based on painting preferences. They made individual decisions about allocating real money. When choosing between maximising profit for all vs. maximising in-group gains, they chose in-group gains. When choosing between maximising the difference between groups vs. maximising absolute in-group gains, they chose to maximise the difference. Mere categorisation was sufficient to produce in-group favouritism.
4. Cognitive Explanation
Prejudice results from our cognitive capacity to categorise and from how memory and learning systems work. Stereotypes are efficient mental shortcuts that save resources. Rare events stick out, and we are predisposed to associating co-occurrences of rare events (illusory correlation).
Outgroup homogeneity effect: we perceive out-group members as more similar to each other than in-group members. Facial recognition studies show best recognition for in-group faces and worst for unfamiliar out-group faces.
Illusory correlation study: participants read 39 sentences describing behaviours of Group A (majority, 2/3 of sentences) and Group B (minority, 1/3). The ratio of good to bad behaviours (9:4) was identical in both groups. Participants accurately attributed positive behaviours but over-attributed negative behaviours to the smaller Group B. They rated Group B as having fewer positive traits and more negative traits. Because both Group B (minority) and negative behaviours (rarer) were uncommon, their co-occurrence was cognitively salient.
Students often think stereotypes and prejudice are the same thing. Stereotypes are beliefs; prejudice is an attitude. A stereotype can exist without hostility (benevolent stereotypes), though it can still cause harm.
Students often think RWA and SDO predict the same patterns. RWA is driven by perceived threat to the in-group; SDO is driven by perceived inter-group competition. They predict overlapping but distinct policy preferences.
Students often assume the minimal group paradigm requires real conflict to produce bias. It does not. Mere arbitrary categorisation is sufficient to generate in-group favouritism.
⚠️ Know Allport's definition of prejudice and be able to distinguish it from stereotypes with examples.
⚠️ Be able to name and explain all four theories of prejudice (social/ideological, economic, motivational, cognitive) with a study or example for each.
⚠️ The minimal group paradigm study is a frequently tested example for the motivational explanation.
⚠️ Be able to describe the illusory correlation study and explain why participants over-attributed negative behaviours to the minority group.
⚠️ Understand how RWA and SDO differ in what moderates their relationship to prejudice (threat vs. competition).
True or False: All stereotypes are prejudice. (False. Prejudice typically contains stereotypes, but not all stereotypes are prejudice.)
Fill in the blank: In the minimal group paradigm, participants chose to maximise the _____ between groups rather than absolute in-group gains. (difference)
True or False: The outgroup homogeneity effect means we perceive in-group members as more similar to each other than out-group members. (False. It is the reverse: out-group members are seen as more similar.)
Fill in the blank: SDO scores are moderated by perceived _____ between social groups. (competition)
Q: Define prejudice using Allport's definition and explain how stereotypes relate to prejudice.
A: Prejudice is an aversive or hostile attitude toward a person simply because they belong to a particular group and are presumed to have the objectionable qualities ascribed to that group. Stereotypes are beliefs about the attributes of a group. Prejudice typically contains stereotypes (the hostile attitude rests on assumed group traits), but stereotypes can exist without hostility. Even benevolent stereotypes can be harmful because they constrain individuals to group-level assumptions.
Q: Explain the cognitive explanation of prejudice and describe one study supporting it.
A: The cognitive explanation holds that prejudice results from normal categorisation processes and memory biases. Stereotypes are efficient shortcuts. We are predisposed to notice co-occurrences of rare events (illusory correlation). In one study, participants read 39 sentences about Group A (majority) and Group B (minority) with identical ratios of positive to negative behaviours. Participants over-attributed negative behaviours to Group B and rated them more negatively, because both the minority group and negative behaviours were uncommon, making their co-occurrence stand out.
Q: Describe the Robber's Cave experiment and explain which theory of prejudice it supports.
A: Twenty-two boys were randomly split into two groups, each forming a group identity. A competitive tournament with prizes was introduced. Conflict escalated to cabin raids and violent behaviour. This supports the economic/resource-based explanation: inter-group hostility arose directly from competition over scarce resources (the prize), between groups with no prior reason for conflict.
Social identity theory, introduced in the Group Influence notes, reappears here as the motivational explanation of prejudice (in-group bias and out-group derogation). The cognitive explanation connects to research on heuristics and biases in judgement. The economic explanation connects to conflict and conflict resolution, where reducing inter-group competition (common goals) reduces prejudice.
Prejudice, stereotype, discrimination, Allport, RWA, right-wing authoritarianism, SDO, social dominance orientation, social dominance theory, realistic group conflict, Robber's Cave, Sherif, minimal group paradigm, Tajfel, social identity theory, in-group bias, out-group derogation, outgroup homogeneity, illusory correlation, cognitive explanation, motivational explanation, economic explanation, ideological explanation, benevolent stereotypes, NYU social psychology