Prejudice

Prejudice is one of the defining topics of social psychology and a core theme in the study of intergroup relations. In common parlance and according to the simple definition proposed by Gordon Allport, prejudice can be thought of as “thinking ill of others without sufficient warrant.” Influenced strongly by Allport's definition, prejudice has traditionally been conceived of as a negative attitude toward members of a given group, based exclusively on their membership in that group. Literally, the term refers to the process of prejudging people on the basis of their group membership, so in principle, prejudice can be both negative and positive. Thus, more recently, psychologists have expanded the scope of the definition of prejudice in two ways in order to include a broader range ...