How Might Prejudice Develop and How Might It Be Reduced? Essay

A judgment or opinion made without adequate noesis to Prejudge, to stall judgement or form premature opinion. We fecal matter break the denomination prejudice stamp out into twain parts to give cle arr understanding of its meaning, Pre is forrader and judice is to make judgement, so it is a contradict preconceived judgement on an mortal or group prior to seeking full k immediatelyledge or understanding about them.Prejudice effects many aspects of nows society. Racism, sexism and homophobia atomic number 18 all mannikins of discrimination a receivest a group that they whitethorn feel does not fit in to their norms in society. This can lead further to prejudice against single parents, students, the elderly, the disabled, Goths, Emos, basically any group can be subjected to a form of prejudice. These negative preconceived ideas affect the room we treat people on a day to day basis.It is white to give tongue to that most people would like to think they are unspecific of new(prenominal)s and are not prejudice but it is unlikely that these people carry no prejudice at all, it is inevitable that certain groups would not personally appeal to everyone and we whitethorn be drawn to new(prenominal) groups for company. There are three shares of prejudice. The cognitive element which are ideas about a special(a) group which form stereotypes.The affective element involves feelings in relation to a certain group, these feelings could include anger, disgust, intimidation or even hate. The behavioural element involves actions taken to express these feelings, for instance an individual may avoid a certain group or individual belonging to a group, they may become abusive either verbally or physically, in perfect circumstances this discrimination can lead to such atrocities as the final solution where millions of Jews were exterminated. The media has a wide impact on our opinions of others.It may not be that someone expressing prejudice has had direct con tact or experience of a group or individual from a group but they may have formed opinions based on propaganda, parental influences, authoritative figures, associate pressure or ignorance. The social learning theory suggests that negative thoughts or prejudices are learnt from society, for example parents, friends or colleagues. We are not born with negative thoughts/ preconceived ideas for others therefore it must be a learnt ideation.Psychology gives two main approaches to describe the prejudice phenomenon, with many psychologist contributing with studies regarding prejudice for example The Robbers cave, Sherif (1956). This looked at whether prejudice could be created indoors a group. Social Factors of prejudice suggests that prejudice is a result of group interaction. Sherif conducted an look into in 1956 to promote the theory suggesting that when groups interact with one another they ordain inevitably generate attitudes towards each other.The Robbers Cave experiment took a group of carefully selected boys, with no known hostile attitudes towards each other, they resolve the group and introduced competition between the groups to observe the natural and spontaneous knowledge of group organisation and attitudes. This is known as minimal group theory. singular factors involved in prejudice theories suggests a sick person lesson, suggesting that prejudice is an individual occurrence relating back to unresolved childishness memories or trauma.Freuds work with psycho-analysis on this was a major influence, that conflicts in ones childhood creates a damaged adult personality. Also theories of the authoritarian figure by Adorno et al (1950) brought the suggestion of projection of unresolved past (childhood) experiences onto minority group. The down side to this theory is that it does not explain group prejudice, it implies that prejudice is an individual process and isolated to having a sick personality.Reduction of prejudice is springy for social inte gration and acceptance. Prejudice has reduced over the years in many aspects, as we as a society become more than acceptant of others prejudice should reduce, but there testament always be a victimised group within society which is outcast. Homosexuals could not be openly gay twenty years ago but now it is seen as an acceptable part of society, although there is still animosity towards minority groups such as homosexuals they are not so widespread and outwardly visible.There are several ways of reducing prejudice within society on both an individual and social level. Ignorance has a massive impact on peoples thoughts and opinions of others as many of their opinions of others are uninformed and uneducated. training is a vital part of reducing any kind of animosity. Schools, parents and other authoritarian figures can take an active role in educating younker people about minority groups to encourage acceptance, cultural awareness within schools can be very beneficial in the acce ptance process.Opinions of parents are a major influence on a childrens attitudes towards those who step forward to be different to themselves, so education is not only countenance for young people but re-education of old-school thoughts is a necessary action. Integration with other groups is very important to build understanding and empathy between cultures. Also talk is vital to encourage understanding and time to allow these things to take place, attitudes cannot kind overnight.Encouraging the pursuit of common (superordinate) goals, can reduce divisions between groups, if miscellaneous groups have a common goal to work towards they are more likely to pull together and put differences aside for the greater gain of the group. All these are options for aiding the reduction of prejudice but time, effort and confide on the part of everyone is required to achieve this reduction, but it is reasonable to say that even though prejudice can be reduced it will never be extinct there will always be an element of prejudice within society.