The Interplay of Stereotyping, Prejudice, and Discrimination

This essay examines the interconnectedness of stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination and their impact on attitude formation within society. It explores how stereotypes, often based on shared social behaviors and attributes, influence individual attitudes and contribute to prejudice. The study also delves into social identity theory, explaining how individuals identify with social groups and how this identification affects their attitudes towards outgroups. The essay further discusses the psychological theories and the behavioral patterns associated with prejudice and discrimination. It also examines the relationship between stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination and their effects on attitude change and intergroup dynamics. The essay concludes by emphasizing the role of social identity in shaping attitudes within different social groups, highlighting the interdependence of these three factors.

Running head: STEREOTYPING PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
STEREOTYPING PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
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Executive Summary
The study takes into account the relationship between the stereotyping prejudice and
discrimination and explores their role in the formulation of the attitudes in the society. the
stereotyping prejudice and discriminationare usually co-dependent on each other and help in the
formation of the attitudes among the different people in the different societies. The social
identity theory helps in the understanding of the identification of the individuals in the different
social groups and how it helps in the formation of attitudes.

2STEREOTYPING PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
Table of Contents
1.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Stereotyping and Attitude formation.........................................................................................4
1.3 Theories of attitude formation and stereotyping........................................................................5
2.1 Prejudice and Discrimination in Attitude formation.................................................................7
2.2 Social psychological theories....................................................................................................9
3.1 Interrelation between Stereotyping Prejudice and Discrimination..........................................10
3.2 Understanding of attitude change............................................................................................11
4. Conclusion.................................................................................................................................11
5. References..................................................................................................................................12

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1.1 Introduction
The social environment of a person plays a very important role in the formation of the
personal beliefs of an individual. The beliefs are usually based on the different social situations
faced by the individual and the different psychological factors such as stereotyping prejudice and
discrimination has an important role to play in the attitude formation. The attitude in general is
the point of view or the perception of an individual with which he assesses the different social
situations. The experiences in life along with the different factors has an important impact as the
behaviors are accultured in the individual based on the different the various life experiences if
the individual. The stereotyping prejudice and discrimination faced or taught to the individual
helps in the formation of his ideologies and therefore their attitudes are formed (Jost, and
Krochik 2014). The stereotyping and prejudice have very different roles to play in the attitude
formation but they are very much dependent on each other as ideologies. These behaviors in an
individual lead to the behavioral pattern of the different societies and these factors are often due
to the sense of social identity among individuals. The attitude formation of an individual depends
on the 3 components of attitude affective behavioral and cognitive.
Figure 1: Relation between stereotyping prejudice and discrimination

4STEREOTYPING PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
(Source: opentextbc.ca)
Figure 2: Relation between Identity and Stereotypes
(Source: Jostand Krochik2014)
1.2 Stereotyping and Attitude formation
Stereotype is defined as attributing a certain set of beliefs to some people or a group
based on their shared social behaviors, habits, norms ethnicity or physical attributes. The

5STEREOTYPING PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
stereotype about a set of people may be positive or negative. The stereotypes are just a set of
beliefs which becomes a stereotype about a set of people if they are believed and promulgated
for a long term. They have a strong influence on the attitude formation of the individual and
based on the stereotypes these effects too may be positive or negative (Mackieand
Hamilton2014). The stereotyping has all the three components of attitude formation; Affective:
The Asians are intelligent, Behavioral: I respect their intelligence, Cognitive: I believe all of
them are intelligent.
Figure 3:Stereotype Mind map
(Source:Mackieand Hamilton2014)
1.3 Theories of attitude formation and stereotyping
According to social identity theory, states that a member of the society perceives
themselves as they are part of a relevant social group. However, in the modern society the
stereotypes lead to the social categorization of the individuals, affecting their overall
development in the society. The different social factors that are affected by the stereotyping

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leading to the attitude formation among the individuals is the sense of social identity. The
individuals tend to align themselves with a certain group and there is a sense of social
competition among these social groups. Any individual who aligns themselves to any social
groups will have a number of stereotypes relating to the other social groups called outgroups.
According to Tajfel and Turner, (1979), the continuous engagement of the individuals in their
social ingroups leads to the formation of the different stereotypes about the outgroups of the
society. The social identity of the individual with the certain group leads them to follow the
norms and the cultures of the group or ethnicity leading to the formation of the stereotypes about
them and they tend to follow the attitudes of the social groups they follow (Tajfel and
Turner1979). For example, if a person follows Islam they tend to follow the different actions that
help them to identify with the religion and their attitudes develop according to their social
acculturation. It is also seen that the person will adhere to certain norms of the in groups which
leads to the formation of the stereotypes about the group among the different outgroups. The
different behaviors and the practices practiced by the different groups reinforce the stereotypes
of the people such as the majority of the people coming from oriental countries to the large
universities for education reinforce the fact that south Asians are more intelligent than the
average population which is usually because only the best of the students go the west for further
education and therefore shows the world that that south Asians are generally intelligent.

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Figure 4:Discrimination mind map
(Source: Tileagă, 2015)
2.1 Prejudice and Discrimination in Attitude formation
The prejudice is one of the most important driving factors behind the formation of a
number of negative attitudes among the people about the certain societies. The prejudice in
general is a strong negative notion about social outgroups which makes the individual abiding by
a certain cultural identity biased towards the group. The prejudice about a social outgroup or a
society is formed after much time and due to a number of affecting factors that involve the
different groups in the society. The prejudice too is very important in the inculcation the social
behavior of discrimination (Kiteand Whitley 2016). The prejudice to a certain group or idea is
often the cause of discrimination against it. Discrimination in general is the unjustified negative
behavior towards a certain outgroup the discrimination is often based on the different prejudices
held by the individual or the society towards a certain group.

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The prejudice is often the result of reinforcement of the negative stereotypes among
people. When the people choose to act on their prejudices hampering the other groups
development of the ‘other’ group or individual, the behavior is known as discrimination. The
discriminated group in turn may become prejudiced against the discriminating groups which
leads to discrimination from their side as well (Fishbein2014). The prejudices and the
discriminative attitudes are not dependent on the majority or the minority of the group but the
conflict in the in the group dynamics of the different individuals as a result of the personal belief
systems. The prejudice also has all the three components of attitude formation and they help in
the formation of strict prejudiced behavior according to the belief system of the individual
(Smith and Haslam 2017). The discrimination is often the conscious or the subconscious but is
always a result of the prejudice in the individual.
Figure 5: Prejudice Determinants
(Source: Kite and Whitley Jr2016)

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2.2 Social psychological theories
There is various reason of the prejudiced behavior of the individuals in the modern
society but they mostly are the result of the age-old belief which is the result of a number of
implicit biases in the society. According to the behavioral theories of B. F. Skinner and John B.
Watson, personality is a consequence of communication between the individual and the environment
in the society. Hence it can be said that the race gender religion of the sexual orientation is one of
the major issues affecting the social behaviors. Prejudice is usually the precognitive judgement
of the individual without complete and proper ideas of the situation which may be the result of
the past experiences by the society (Killen, Rutland and Yip 2016). For example, the situation of
the acceptance of the Muslims around the world greatly changed after the 9/11 attack. From this
scenario it can also be seen that the discrimination can affect the people who might not belong to
the same social group as it was seen that this attack created a scene of prejudice and
discrimination against the Sikhs who share the visual similarity to the Muslims. Therefore, it can
be said that often the prejudice and the discrimination is the result of the misinformed ideologies.
These ideologies help in the formation of a negative attitude about the different individuals.
Figure 6:Prejudice Mind map
(Source:Fishbein2014)

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Figure 7: Stereotype Prejudice and Discrimination Relationship
(Source: Killen, Rutlandand Yip2016)
3.1 Interrelation between Stereotyping Prejudice and Discrimination
The stereotyping and the prejudice may be different in their definitions but they are
closely related to each other. The cause effect relation between the stereotyping prejudice and
discrimination helps in the understanding of the social identity of the individual and how it helps
in the formation of the different attitudes among the people in the society. The presence of the
stereotypes in the society about the different outgroups affect their ideologies about those
outgroup.

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3.2 Understanding of attitude change
The negative stereotype about the different outgroups leads to the formation of the
prejudice about them. The prejudice therefore leads to the enactment of behavioral and
attitudinal discrimination against a group. In turn the discriminated groups form their own groups
based on the mutual dislike of mutual identification among themselves as the prejudiced ones
(Tileagă2015). These groups in turn have their own ideologies and form attitudes about the
previous group based on which they discriminate against them. It is therefore seen that the
stereotyping prejudice and the discrimination is the result of the social identity among the
different inclusive group having different ideologies and is reinforced by the different behavioral
and attitudinal discrimination against each other. The different groups also tend to have a set of
ideals which will be further reinforced by the different ideological beliefs father affected by the
competitive behavior among the different groups. Thus, it can also be said that the attitude of the
different groups depends on the behaviors and the intergroup dynamics (Vogeland Wanke2016).
4. Conclusion
It can therefore be said that the stereotyping prejudice and discrimination are a result of
the social identity of the individuals. The three factors have interdependence among each other
and often are the result of each other. The formation of the attitude of an individual depends on
the society or the group they identify with and the attitude of the group is dependent on the
dynamics of these subgroups. The attitude of a group is therefore dependent on the performance
of a number of subgroups and the ethnic and the cultural ideologies they adhere to. The different
attitudes of the society according to the different groups in the modern society is also affected by
recent incidents relating to the group and how the society perceives them.

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5. References
Fishbein, H.D., 2014. Peer prejudice and discrimination: The origins of prejudice. Psychology
Press.
Jost, J.T. and Krochik, M., 2014. Ideological differences in epistemic motivation: Implications
for attitude structure, depth of information processing, susceptibility to persuasion, and
stereotyping. In Advances in motivation science (Vol. 1, pp. 181-231). Elsevier.
Killen, M., Rutland, A. and Yip, T., 2016. Equity and justice in developmental science:
Discrimination, social exclusion, and intergroup attitudes. Child development, 87(5), pp.1317-
1336.
Kite, M.E. and Whitley Jr, B.E., 2016. Psychology of prejudice and discrimination. Psychology
Press.
Mackie, D.M. and Hamilton, D.L. eds., 2014. Affect, cognition and stereotyping: Interactive
processes in group perception. Academic Press.
Smith, J.R. and Haslam, S.A. eds., 2017. Social psychology: Revisiting the classic studies. Sage.
Tajfel, H. and Turner, J.C., 1979. An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. The social
psychology of intergroup relations, 33(47), p.74.
Tileagă, C., 2015. The nature of prejudice: Society, discrimination and moral exclusion.
Routledge.
Vogel, T. and Wanke, M., 2016. Attitudes and attitude change. Psychology Press.

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