Factors Affecting Prejudice: Individual Differences

Question 1

Define Discrimination

Answer 1

Behaviour that results from prejudiced attitudes so that a person behaves differently to a particular group of people because of their negative attitudes.

Question 2

Define Individual Differences

Answer 2

Characteristics that vary from one person to another. People vary in terms of their intelligence, emotional type , resilience.

Two key ones are personality and gender.

Question 3

Adorno et al. Authoritarian Personality Explaining Prejudice

Answer 3

Overly harsh parenting style creates a personality that is obedient and prone to display prejudice.

Children identify with their parents but the children with authoritarian parents also feel hostile to their parents unconditional love.

Question 4

Adorno et al. Authoritarian Personality Explaining Prejudice: Scapegoating

Answer 4

Child cannot express feelings of love due to fear of punishment so they displace their anger to something else, such as socially inferior people (outgroup).

Question 5

Allport’s Authoritarian Personality

Answer 5

Allport discussed AP and compared it to more generalised tolerant types who have a sense of inner security and confidence stemming from unconditional parental acceptance.

Question 6

What does Allport’s Parenting style lead to?

Answer 6

Leads to an empathetic and accepting orientation towards others, a more liberal ideological outlook and the ability to think in shades of grey.

Authoritarians think in rigid ‘black and white’ categories and need cognitive closure; they prefer to find solutions, as opposed to generating more questions.

Question 7

Difference between Allport and Adorno

Answer 7

Allport believed people with authoritarian personalities are not necessarily prejudice but they may be receptive to political arguments which target their inner fears and insecurities.

Question 8

Right Wing Authoritarianism

Answer 8

Altemeyer focussed on authoritarian submission, aggression and conventionalism. He though these were most important.

People with RWA tend to hold prejudiced attitudes to LGBT, women and various groups.

Question 9

How does Altemeyer differ from Adorno?

Answer 9

Altemeyer says that RWA is not a product of early parental experiences but develops as a consequence of social learning.

He says when children are socialised to believe the world is a dangerous place, RWA may result. This theory is about a learned set of beliefs about the world, not feelings.

Question 10

How does RWA Develop?

Answer 10

Develops as a reaction to fear and uncertainty. People high in RWA seek security through preserving existing social order, they are suspicious and overtly hostile to anyone who defies the norm. They tend to be highly conscientious but closed to new experiences.

Question 11

Social Dominance Orientation

Answer 11

Pratto et al. developed the concept of SDO to describe people who are motivated to seek out ingroup power, dominance and superiority.

SDO prefer hierarchical versus equal distribution of power.

Question 12

How is SDO different from RWA

Answer 12

People with SDO see the world as competitive where we have to fight for the share of limited resources and power.

Like RWA this world view is transmitted by role models as part of the socialisation process.

Question 13

What is SDO positively and negatively correlated with?

Answer 13

Positively with key personality characteristics like tough mindedness and negatively with agreeableness and empathy.

More common in men and develop through exposure to social situations involving high levels of inequality and competition.

Question 14

Strength of Personality

Answer 14

Lots of supporting research.

Cohrs et al. found that RWA and SDO were both positively correlated with generalised prejudice.

RWA was negatively correlated in relation to openness to experience while SDO was negatively correlated with agreeableness.

Suggests that levels of prejudice can be accurately predicted from personality traits.

Question 15

Competing

Answer 15

SDO and RWA likely not consistent overtime making prejudice harder to predict in the real world.

Levin (1996) study showed that when Jews think about their social identity in Israel, the Ashkenazi Jew scores were higher than other types in SDO.

Differences in SDO disappeared when Jews thought about their relationship between Israel and Palestine.

Shows the malleability of SDO and that SDO scores can be an effect of prejudice as well as a cause.

Question 16

Weakness

Answer 16

Ignores role of social norms and situational factors.

Louis et al. noted that RWA and SDO scales do not include items which are heavily affected by social norms, meaning the role of these factors is ignored in the research.

72% of Australians in their study strongly disagreed with the statement, ‘the white race is the best race’ but agreed with the exclusion of asylum seekers.

Suggests its important to understand the social and individual factors to address consequences for prejudice effectively.

Question 17

Application

Answer 17

May provide suggestions for how prejudice can be reduced.

Allport and Altemeyer highlight that prejudice may be learned through exposure through exposure to specific world views and prejudicial rhetoric. Suggesting greater regulation of media sources may be beneficial.

Demonstrates importance of thinking about the root causes of prejudice as a way to combat it.