Factors Affecting Prejudice Flashcards
Personality - Authoritarian Personality - Adorno et al (1950)
> Hostile to those of inferior status
Harsh upbringings with little affection
Willing to please those of a higher status
Minorities - ‘them’, authoritarian’s group ‘us’ - unconscious hostility placed onto them
According to Adorno et al, how do the harsh upbringings impact prejudice?
They project their anger onto others stemming from the extreme frustration they experienced as children due to strict unaffectionate parenting
Personality - Social Dominance Theory (SDT)
Refers to someone who sees society as hierarchical with themselves in a position of dominance over those of a lower status.
Individuals with high SDO have
a strong desire for their groups to dominate out groups, they reject politics aimed at establishing equality
Individuals with low SDO believe that
inequality is unjust and support views and political policies designed to reduce social inequalities
Personality: Right Wing Authoritarianism (RWA)
Thought to predict prejudice and discrimination. RWA refers to one with rigid thinking, likes societal rules which people must stick to for society to function.
Someone with RWA will
obey rules and obey those in authority, they will also want to punish anyone who does not obey the rules
Personality: Cohrs et al (2012) conducted a correlational study into the 5 personality dimensions, RWA and SDO and prejudice. They found that
RWA correlated with prejudice which supports Adorno’s work, they found that someone more open to new experiences is less likely to show authoritaianism
Rokeach (1960) has criticised the authoritarian scale used stating that it only measured authoritarianism in right wing political individuals and
high scores on another way of thinking, known as dogmatism, also show high levels of authoritarianism but adorno didn’t include this. Questions validity
It has been argued that any explanation, in this case personality, that focuses on individuals is
reductionist and that the social nature of prejudice requires a social explanation that looks at in or out group behaviour
Adorno’s theory cannot account for the rise and fall of prejudice in particular societies at particular points in time therefore it could be said to be
incomplete and reductionist
Culture: Katz and Braly - questionnaire with American students and found that the majority classified African Americans as superstitious and ignorant and Jews as shrewd. 20 yrs later.,..
Karlins et al (1969) replicated the research and found that while some national stereotypes had changed, others persisted. Suggests that culture does affect prejudice, but as culture changes, so do the prejudices.
Culture: Guimond et al (2013) investigated the different cultural norms in different cultures and how these may affect levels of prejudice. It looked at diversity policies of Germany, US, UK and Canada….
Anti Muslim attitudes were reduced in the countries where pro diversity policy was high, the countries had different views which went with the policies they had.
Guimond et al (2013) found that
Compared to Germany, the other three countries have stronger norms relating to multiculturalism, supporting the original hyp that multiC reduced prejudice
Situation: Contact Hypothesis - Allport (1954) believed that if the situation is set up so that people in different groups have contact with one another, this can
help reduce prejudice and discrimination. Minority and majority groups can be brought together to learn more about one another and therefore reduce hostility.
