Question

Explain how motivations can affect prejudice.

Answer 1

Modern prejudice research focuses primarily on people who are motivated to respond without prejudice and the ways in which unintentional bias can cause these people to act inconsistent with this motivation. However, some real-world phenomena (e.g., hate speech, hate crimes) and experimental findings suggest that some expressions of prejudice are intentional. These phenomena and findings are difficult to explain solely from the motivations to respond without prejudice.

In normative climates that prohibit prejudice, the internal and external motivations to express prejudice are functionally non-independent, but they become more independent when normative climates permit more prejudice toward a target group. People high in the motivation to express prejudice are relatively likely to resist pressure to support programs promoting intergroup contact and vote for political candidates who support oppressive policies. The motivation to express prejudice predicted these outcomes even when controlling for attitudes and the motivations to respond without prejudice.

Motivation can be of two types; Internal and External

Internal motivation like strong inner belief that prejudice is wrong, actively work to reduce any form of prejudice and
external motivation like socially unwise to express politically incorrect opinions, actively work to reduce detectable prejudice.

Without internal or external motivation to do otherwise, people's stereotypes and prejudices may go unchecked. But, a desire not to let stereotypes influence our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can decrease the likelihood that they will. This desire can come from our personal beliefs about how we should behave. If we personally believe that discriminating against others is wrong, we can be vigilant about our behavior thus decreasing the chances that we will discriminate.

External motivation also influences how people behave. Situations can discourage those who explicitly or implicitly endorse particular unfavorable stereotypes and prejudices from treating particular groups unfavorably. For example,

• Company policies,
• Perceived group norms (e.g., beliefs about what others believe), and
• Climate set by group leaders.

These policies, norms, and exemplary behaviors can influence behaviors. In these cases, even if individuals endorse the stereotypes and prejudice they may not express them. The reverse is true as well. When there are no explicit policies against stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination and when group norms and leaders support such beliefs, attitudes, and behavior, discriminatory behavior is more likely.