PSYC12H3 Chapter 4: PSYC12 Ch. 4 The Prejudiced Personality
Document Summary
Indirectly, one of the major influences on theory/research in psychology was the resign of the nazis in. Many brilliant intellectual (notably, gestalt psychologists from germany, who had a huge influence on american psychologist" research and theory) in the field of psychology fled from. Germany to the united states and elsewhere in the late 1930s. Much research and theory was initiated to attempt to explain the horror of the genocide of. Jewish, homosexual, gypsy, and physically challenged individuals at the hands of the nazis. Up till that time, psychologists had explained prejudice as a psychodynamic process of unconscious defense mechanisms. This approach fit well with the perceived ubiquity of prejudice, because psychological defense mechanisms were also believed to be a common aspect of every person"s mind. Prejudice was therefore seen as a defensive projection of one"s frustrations, fears, and hostility outward against innocent outgroups.
