PSYC 2120 Chapter Notes - Chapter 10: In-Group Favoritism, Stereotype, Scapegoating

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2120
• Professor: Kerry Kawakami

Document Summary

Prejudice: a (cid:374)egati(cid:448)e attitude to(cid:449)ard a(cid:374) i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idual solel(cid:455) o(cid:374) the (cid:271)asis of that perso(cid:374)"s presu(cid:373)ed membership in a particular group. Social psychologists assume that prejudice against a person based solely on membership in a group is never justified. Prejudice involves judgi(cid:374)g a(cid:374)d i(cid:374)di(cid:448)idual (cid:374)egati(cid:448)el(cid:455) i(cid:374)depe(cid:374)de(cid:374)t of the perso(cid:374)"s a(cid:272)tual attributes or actions. Any large category of people will include tremendous variability in virtually every possible attribute by which one might judge another person positively or negatively assuming anything about all members of such group will lead to many errors. Prejudice often lead to appalling acts of violence against innocent people. People who hold prejudices justify them with stereotypes: overgeneralized beliefs about the traits and attributes of members of a particular group. When people hold prejudices and stereotypes, either consciously or unconsciously, often leads to discrimination: negative behaviour toward an individual solely on the basis of membership in a particular group. Gordon allport proposes three basic causes of prejudice.