Question

Briefly define stereotype, prejudice, and discrimination.

Answer 1

Within the field of social psychology, the study of ABCs, i.e. affect, behaviour and cognition is leading to the in depth understanding of phenomena like stereotypes, discrimination and prejudices. Although, in everyday life these are often terms that are used inter-changeably, they differ in significant ways. Stereotypes are oversimplified assumptions or generalizations about groups or people. A stereotype could be positively attributed or negatively. For instance, a racial group attributes negatively to a lesser dominant or subordinate group by saying that they are lazy or stupid. A positive stereotype could be that men are fewer complainers than women, etc. In either case, the stereotype is a generalization that doesn’t take individual differences into account. Prejudice refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group. A prejudice is not based on experience; instead, it is a prejudgment, originating outside actual experience. For instance, negative instances tend to continue governing the belief systems of nations post war. These comprise of prejudices. On the other hand, while prejudice refers to biased thinking, discrimination consists of actions against a group of people. Discrimination can be based on age, religion, health, and other indicators; race-based laws against discrimination strive to address this set of social problems. For instance, women are discriminated against by the society at large at the hands of patriarchy and misogyny. These are the thin discriminatory factors between all these three elements within social psychology.