It is possible for prejudice to be expressed or felt since it entails particular cognitive beliefs and critical social attitudes, adverse expression effect or the display of discriminative behavior directed to followers of a group on account of them being members of that group.

1. Running Head: PREJUDICE 1
Prejudice
Name
Institution
Date

2. PREJUDICE 2
Introduction
Allport (1954) gives the earliest definition of prejudice as a hatred based on a defective
and rigid generality that is directed towards certain groups of people as a whole or an individual
because they are members of that group. It is possible for prejudice to be expressed or felt since
it entails particular cognitive beliefs and critical social attitudes, adverse expression effect or the
display of discriminative behavior directed to followers of a group on account of them being
members of that group. In this regard, an essay giving a social psychological explanation of why
prejudice continues to occur, despite social action against it, focusing mostly on concepts of
prejudice. The essay will reference social cognitive processes such as categorization and
stereotypes while concentrating on psychological theories, concepts and research evidence from
a social psychology perspective.
Why prejudice still exists
According to Allport (1954), to change someone's opinion about prejudices takes a lot
more than real exposure and the notion that people can change from their ideas to accommodate
others immediately is not that easy. Nonetheless, it is suggested that the only way to change a
person's opinion about something or someone is to increasingly expose them to the positive
interaction experience (Schneider, Gruman & Coutts, 2012). In other words, it seems easier to
remove the attitude of prejudice towards individuals or groups of people by exposing the
perpetrator to the group's positive side or activities if any. However, it is quite a challenge trying
to remove this attitude from individuals who hold these thoughts about others or a group, but this
is brought about partly because of stereotypes. The stereotypes that are responsible for this
behavior and negativity are quite prevalent in all societies and make it worse for any positivity to

3. PREJUDICE 3
develop from any situation (Jackie, David & Myers, 2014). Besides, nowadays, people are not in
any way aggressively looking for means to substantiate themselves from any wrongs. In the real
sense, the prejudice of most individuals is firmly held together when other people try to disgrace
them, and in this regard, stereotypes have a significant role in it. There are different prejudices
meted towards different groups, and all these prejudices come with very different emotional
mechanisms to them. For example, bias towards some groups is accompanied by disgust; while
others are characterized by anger, and some by fear. Stereotypes are responsible for the need to
incline to search for or necessity to deduce information in a manner that approves somebody's
prejudices.
The authoritarian concept of prejudice
Smolík (2008) describes an authoritarian person as having a type of personality that
possesses a mentality towards authority that is at all times important and this type of individual
adores authority and has a habit of subjecting their self to it. Also, these individuals wish
themselves to be in power to submit other people, and as far as they are concerned, there are two
stands in their life: the powerless and powerful. An authoritarian individual is more than
comfortable to be the mighty ruler, and if they are not the strong leader, then they will show
complete submission to any other influential figure that might be in authority. In either of the
cases, there is minimal tolerance towards non-conventional thinking and individuals whose
character is set up in an authoritarian personality mostly obey the existing authority. The
individuals trust that total obedience to the rules is mandatory, and any nonconformity to these
rules is to be met with harsh repercussions. Authoritarian personality often ends up with people
having hostile feelings towards individuals, minorities, including ethnic and religious groups.

4. PREJUDICE 4
The authoritarian personality is believed to arise from childhood according to the
psychoanalytic theory developed by Sigmund Freud who put forward the argument that
experiences from childhood lead to individuals' characters when they become adults (De Sousa,
2011). In this regard, prejudice continues to be an issue because of the mentality of this theory
and the individuals who possess this character do not intend to rectify their behavior but instead
continue perpetrating this evil. One of the other traits that are common in all authoritarian aspects
is the belief that life is determined by external powers that are not inside a person, plus are not in
his wishes or interests, and in the end, the only probable joy involves submitting to those forces
(Smolík 2008).
Dogmatism concept of prejudice
Hanna et al. (2012 quote dogmatism as a reasonably closed mentality of beliefs
concerning the reality that focuses around a primary set of ideas about the total authority that in
turn offers a structure for designs of prejudice and qualified open-mindedness toward other
people. The amount of information concerning this concept is not as much, or its literature
research and results are not in large forms, compared to the large texts on the idea of
authoritarianism. The psychological concept of dogmatism was presented by Milton Rokeach to
criticize Theodor Adorno and his other colleagues' authoritarian theory of personality and
contends that matters of opinion are imposing or unquestionable (Crisp & Peker, 2018). Also, he
was also challenging the authoritarian theory of personality rigidity and its denial to change a
person's views about an argument or realities that contest an individual's beliefs. Also,
dogmatism has been observed to be a behavioral characteristic describing a narrow-minded and
inflexible opinion in someone's personal beliefs, and individuals who have a greater sense in
dogmatism generally have a political orientation that is narrow and readily conform to authority

5. PREJUDICE 5
(Crisp & Peker, 2018). The individuals have a tendency to be prejudiced towards people who are
dissimilar from them and do not appreciate points of view challenging their own opinions.
Dogmatism is related to a narrow-minded way of thinking, and it is associated with overall
extremist behaviors and does not prescribe to any specific system of belief.
Categorization and stereotypes
Social categorization is the way in which an individual's mind groups together people
who share significant characteristics and is essential to human understanding since it functions as
a primary function for the organization and structure of individuals understanding of ideas
concerning the world (Bodenhausen, Kang & Peery, 2011). People mentally recollect others
depending on their demographics such as gender, age, culture, race, and religion, or interests and
personalities such as if one is an extrovert and also the profession of individuals. This procedure
has some significant functions that provide an individual with a method of organizing and
structuring their comprehension of the social domain. Social categories have also been observed
to serve a necessary purpose of identity in shaping the person's sense of belonging, including a
connection to others or alienating from them. When individuals are placed in a social category,
there is a likelihood of considering our status in regards to that same category whether as a
member or not (Bodenhausen, Kang & Peery, 2011). In this regard, social categorization gives
room for us to associate with them that we share memberships in the group with but it also likely
to have the potential to create psychologically divisive lines between the individual and their
target.
There is the active desire people hold when they feel the world is just and also fair, and
this desire can lead an individual to develop negative stereotypes which might offer an apparent

6. PREJUDICE 6
justification for the group's poor social status (Jost, Banaji & Nosek, 2004). It is indeed likely
that if some sets of groups have different opinions from one another in noticeable ways, these
issues might not be noticed by individuals whose beliefs they reflect on, although it is true that
many stereotypes reflect authentic group differences. It is a fact that when individuals stop
associating with stereotypes in their social groups, they are likely to face criticism from other
members who operate with a view of discouraging the counter-stereotypic activities that might
happen in the future (Phelan & Rudman, 2010). However, stereotypes can indeed be a reflection
of social realities if not the fundamental character and potential in the group, though an exact
depiction of group issues is not automatically an accurate image of why they exist. Interestingly,
stereotypes may be comprehended using two different fundamental areas namely; competence
and warmth. The first aspect is warmth, and it entails traits such as warm, tolerant, sincere plus
good-natured and is concerned with the group's objectives regarding in-group or the person. The
aspect is concerned with the need to know if a person or out-group is a friend or an enemy and
whether the stranger plans to compete or cooperate (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2002). It is worth
noting that stereotypes in most cases use their judgments mostly indirectly to influence their
effect on processing evidence, instead of a manner that is more direct.
Why prejudice continues to occur despite social action against it
Since human beings highly depend on other people in their groups, they tend to invest in
them to have continuing historical ties of fair and reciprocal relations and the levels of prejudice
and stereotyping are greater between older adults (von Hippel, Silver & Lynch, 2000). The
relationships between adults are meant to also treat each other rationally, by creating and
following a laid down set of agreed norms which are a result of build up trust over a period. In
this regard, humans view other unfamiliar beings as outsiders and a threat to the investment they

7. PREJUDICE 7
have already set up in themselves as individuals or as a group. For this reason, human beings
tend to assume that foreign individuals who are unknown to them are likely to pose possible
threats. Hence, they believe these foreign individuals might be interested in taking their
resources, or likely to swindler them in business or violate the values and norms. Besides, these
reservations or fears are connected to negativities regarding emotions like anger and disgust
towards other people, and they end up contributing to prejudices.
Cultural differences also often drive people towards prejudice due to their different
practices either ethnically or religiously. The fact that a person dislikes a particular community's
way of life might push them to develop hatred and disgust for the said community or specific
religions. In considering the effect of professed prejudice upon stereotypic self-assessments, it
was found that apart from the above-discussed causes, self-esteem is also part of the reasons and
also affects the perpetrators of prejudice (Dion, Earn & Yee, 2007). To this end, stereotypes
comprise reports that are correct or some that sometimes may be understood as the truth, while
others are impossible to validate altogether.
Conclusion
Prejudice is the display of discriminative behavior directed to followers of any group
because of them belonging to that group. The effects have been found to be an underlying issue
in society, and the causes, factors, existence and continuous perpetration go on even with the
advocacy through social action. There is a need to eliminate this vice in society and at the end of
the day have a prejudice-free world. The fact that it is possible for prejudice to be expressed or
felt since it entails particular cognitive beliefs leads to critical social attitudes and negative
expression.

8. PREJUDICE 8
References
Bodenhausen, G., Kang, S., & Peery, D. (2011). Social Categorization and the Perception of
Social Groups. The Sage Handbook of Social Cognition.
Crisp, R., & Peker, M. (2018). Dogmatism. Encyclopedia of Group Processes & Intergroup
Relations. doi: 10.4135/9781412972017.n68
De Sousa, A. (2011). Freudian theory and consciousness: A conceptual analysisFNx08. Mens
Sana Monographs, 9(1), 210. doi: 10.4103/0973-1229.77437
Dion, K., Earn, B., & Yee, P. (2007). The Experience of Being a Victim of Prejudice: An
Experimental Approach. International Journal of Psychology, 13(3), 197-214. doi:
10.1080/00207597808246625
Fiske, S., Cuddy, A., Glick, P., & Xu, J. (2002). A model of (often mixed) stereotype content:
Competence and warmth respectively follow from perceived status and
competition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 878-902. doi:
10.1037//0022-3514.82.6.878
Hanna, J., Cazenave, T., Ayalon, M., Even, R., Jackson, M., & Brewka, G. et al. (2012).
Dogmatism. Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-
6_856
Jackie, F., David, S., & Myers, A. (2014). Social Psychology (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill
International (UK) Ltd.

9. PREJUDICE 9
Jost, J., Banaji, M., & Nosek, B. (2004). A Decade of System Justification Theory: Accumulated
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Smolík, J. (2008). The Influence of the Concept of Authoritarian Personality Today. Central
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von Hippel, W., Silver, L., & Lynch, M. (2000). Stereotyping Against Your Will: The Role of
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