Partial Research Report about Prejudice

This research report focuses on ageism, its theory, and the contact theory. It emphasizes the methodology part and what type of materials and procedures have been used. The main aim of this research is to find out how the quantity or the quality of the intergroup contacts is impacted by the out-group positive attitude.

Running head: PARTIAL RESEARCH REPORT ABOUT PREJUDICE 1
Partial Research Report about Prejudice

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Abstract
Prejudice is considered to be an inappropriate attitude towards a distinct individual
based exclusively on their membership of an individual of a societal group that is often
considered to be associated with a negative aspect. In other words, an individual might
prejudice his or her views regarding a particular gender or race. A prejudiced individual
might avoid acting on their attitude. Prejudice is largely influenced by social norms that are
regarded appropriate for social groups. The individuals who are provided with the
opportunity to affirm are mostly less prejudiced. The following research report aims to focus
on ageism, its theory in order to have proper and better knowledge or understanding.
Additionally, the paper also concentrates more on the contact theory and thereby focuses on
the previous researches about ageism and contact theory. It also emphasizes the methodology
part and what type of materials and procedures have been used.

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Introduction
Psychology refers to the knowledge of behavior and mind comprising sensible and
insensible phenomena as well as thought and emotion. In addition, the psychologists discover
behavior and mental procedures containing cognition, intelligence, perception (Heider, 2013).
The term prejudice is a form of human behavior which needs to be considered by
psychologists (Lucas, 2009). Ageism is undesirable behavior which arises as an outcome of
the certainty that older individuals are of less importance than younger people. In addition,
ageism is very common phraseology and age studies generally refers to undesirable
discriminatory practices in contradiction of old persons, individual in their middle years,
children and teenagers. Moreover, the term ageism is also known as age discrimination
actually refers to when somebody treats an individual dishonestly because of the age. It can
also thereby involve the way that older persons are characterized in the media that in turn can
have a broader influence on the attitude of the public. The term ageism can also have a
positive viewpoint like when the attributes of age are being estimated
advantageous.According to Simpson &Yinger (2013), ageism can be purposeful, meaning a
thoughtful procedure of thought and accomplishment to stereotype constructed on age.
Ageism is very important because it is common for the world for dividing themselves into
numerous age groups for the objective of assigning rights and accountabilities. As opined by
Pettigrew (2008), the contact theory or the contact situation comprises of informal, personal
communication with outgroup associates. In addition, quality contact more than quantity
contact was related with rises in outgroup helping goals.
Literature Review
The contact theory is highly prevalent in the fields of sociology, criminology and
Psychology. This theory lays emphasis upon mediating the disputes that arise between

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diverse relations and squads. According to Pettigrew, Tropp, Wagner & Christ (2011), the
theory improves the strained relationships and efficiently decreases the detriment among the
diverse squads and teams. This theory emphasizes upon keeping contact with each other. This
means the communication between people should continue. In this way, all the conflicts,
disputes and misunderstandings can be resolved easily without much effort. Challenges like
differentiation and detriments often take place between competitors. According to Joyce
(2017), however, the contact theory cannot provide with the desired consequences when there
is a situation of perturbation subsists. This takes place when there has been the persistence of
conflicts over a long period of time. For resolving such a situation, the disputes need to
resolved over a long period of time. Such a situation usually prevails over trade and business.
Often, physical brutality and differentiation between each other arise due to the heated up
situations. These situations have to be dealt with very patiently, and the solution can be
brought about with the tenets of the contact theory. Gordon Allport’s conjecture has
commonly evolved to be the contact theory. The incidence of the contact theory mechanism
aim towards the amelioration of mutual relationships. It possesses the effect of hiding the fact
that the contact mechanism is primarily a detriment but not a theory, which deals solely with
intergroup relationships.
Ageism is commonly known as the differentiation in age. It refers to a situation when an
individual is treated differently without justification. Such differentiation without justification
is mainly because of age. As opined by Palmore, Branch & Harris (2016), Ageism has a great
effect upon the society, it is the natural law that all people are increasing their age everyday
on earth. This means everybody is ageing day by day and it is a continuous process. Ageism
mostly hits the employment opportunities, faith, the monetary status and the standard of
living for the old. It is essential that ageism is treated well and nobody misses an opportunity
on account of age. On the contrary, North & Fiske (2012) has stated that Ageism cannot be

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seen as an ill effect in every field. It is often treated as a necessity because, with age people
tend to become weaker physically. They cannot give the same level of effort like they could
when they were younger. The incidences of ageism include retirement from employment and
not getting recruited everywhere, declining of interest free credit, insurances of almost all
sorts. Sometimes the attitude and behavior towards the older generations is different than
towards the others. There is also declining of the special sources to work for them or the
participation in clubs. Basically, the older people lose their importance and receive negligent
attitude from the people.
It is need of the society, that ageism should be done away with. Ageism has become one of
the greatest villains of the society which create demarcation between the old and the younger
ones. As opined by Vantilborgh (2013), sociologically, every individual should possess equal
rights in the society. Equal status, equal opportunity with regard to the capability is the urgent
requirement of the society. The contact theory can contribute in the aiding of the aged.
Interactions between the young and the old, between the different generations can resolve the
difficulties faced by the aged. The contact theory opens up the scope of communication
between the aged and the young. This would be highly effective in solving the issues and the
problems faced by these people in the society. Ageism can be decreased to a great deal and
can be highly mitigated with the help of the mechanisms given by the contact theory. The
basic problems are examined from the roots and can be dealt with in the most efficient
manner. The contact theory thus, has to be used in the most efficient manner to curb the
problems relating to ageism. Replacing discomfort with comfort is the ultimate objective of
the contact theory. It has a positive impact upon the people of the society and brings the
peace of mind back in case of disputes. This is one of the ultimate methods of redressing the
issues in the society.

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Rationale/Aim
Research Aim
The main aim of this research is to find out how the quantity or the quality of the
intergroup contacts is impacted by the out-group positive attitude.
Research Objective
The research objective here is to see the exact correlation between people’s attitude
towards other people and their prejudice. The younger person having a prejudice regarding
the older people is the focus area of this research.
Research Question
The primary research question is how the out-group attitude, i.e., the attitude of the
young towards the old people is related to intergroup contact or interaction among the two
groups. On the other hand, there are some secondary questions as well which include the
correlation of contact quantity and out-group attitude and the correlation of contact quality
and out-group attitude.
Hypothesis
H0: Contact quality and contact quantity have negative impact on the elderly age group
people.
H1: Contact quality and contact quantity have positive impact on the elderly age group
people.
Methodology
Participants
The participants of this research are 100 participants from a relevant group such as
young people who are studying in schools, colleges and youngsters working in different

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workplace environments. Among the 100 participants, there are 55 men, 40 women and 5 did
not identified their gender. The participants are the main center of focus in order to carry out
the partial research smoothly and effectively. Among the 100 participants, there are few who
has already experienced discrimination and prejudice in their life and thereby has affected
their lifestyle.
Materials
The materials that are required in this research are sets of questionnaires, interview
experts and presentation of various videos to the several participants and taking their opinions
from them regarding the same. It is necessary for the researcher to keep all the essential
materials in a precise and appropriate manner for carrying out the activities effortlessly and
effectively without any hassle. Materials like questionnaire sets should be arranged in an
ordered manner so that the participants do not experience any type of difficulty while giving
their opinions. The researcher has also used contact measures as well by questioning the
participants and has tried to gather information more about the contact frequency. Contact
measures has been developed for explaining the positive impact of contact involving creating
group saliency low so that individual people concentrate on individual features and rather not
group level qualities.
Procedure
The procedure which needs to be followed for carrying out the research such as
distributing the sets of questionnaires to all the 100 participants at first and know their
opinions and thoughts on prejudice and discrimination. Then the researcher should conduct
interview session for all the participants who already appeared for the tests. In regard, the
interview session will help the researcher to know about each participant personally and have
knowledge about his or her opinion on prejudice. Furthermore, the researcher should conduct

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the presentation of several videos on prejudice and know their deep opinions and would ask
them to share as well.
Questionnaire:
 Is ageism a really big issue in an individual’s life?
a) Yes b) No
 Is the influence of ageism on health of the individuals is really big?
A) Yes b) No
 Does really age matters in relationships?
a) Yes b) no
 Does the Equality Act does encouraged anti-discriminatory practice?
A) Yes b) No

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References
Heider, F. (2013). The psychology of interpersonal relations. London: Psychology Press.
Joyce, N. (2017). Intergroup contact theory. The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural
Communication, 1-8.
Lucas, S. (2009). Theorizing discrimination in an era of contested prejudice: Discrimination
in the United States. London: Temple University Press.
North, M. S., & Fiske, S. T. (2012). An inconvenienced youth? Ageism and its potential
intergenerational roots. Psychological bulletin, 138(5), 982.
Palmore, E. B., Branch, L., & Harris, D. (2016). Encyclopedia of ageism. Routledge.
Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in
intergroup contact theory. International journal of intercultural relations, 35(3), 271-
280.
Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L. R., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in
intergroup contact theory. International journal of intercultural relations, 35(3), 271-
280.
Vantilborgh, T., Bidee, J., Pepermans, R., Willems, J., Huybrechts, G., & Jegers, M. (2013).
From “getting” to “giving”: Exploring age-related differences in perceptions of and
reactions to psychological contract balance. European Journal of Work and
Organizational Psychology, 22(3), 293-305.