Prejudice

Prejudice has been defined as a preformed adverse judgment or opinion that is not grounded in knowledge, or an irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion. In legal terms, prejudice has been defined as an irrational hostile attitude directed against an individual, a group, a race, or their supposed characteristics. Prejudicial behavior is responsible for a significant amount of anguish, psychological and emotional pain, and abuse of the target in cross-cultural and intergroup encounters. Examples of prejudicial behaviors include everyday life events of racism, sexism, and classism that can heighten subjective experiences of stress. Similarly, stresses experienced by women; inter-sexual, gay, lesbian, and transgendered people; religious minorities; and Arabs, Muslims, and Pakistanis (considered “villains” by some after September 11, 2001) may have their origins in personal and social prejudices.

Prejudices are defended strongly, as early cultural socialization experiences mold beliefs about people across ways of life. Prejudices can be embedded in worldviews (e.g., beliefs, values, and assumptions) and are integrated in individuals' expectations of others. Given the different definitions of prejudice, most theorists agree that it involves some kind of a negative assessment or evaluation of the “other.”

Theorists have stated that prejudices are attitudes that involve negative feelings such as loathing, hatred, or contempt. Discrimination, on the other hand, refers to behaviors, often motivated by prejudices, wherein people are treated differently (e.g., negatively), based on group membership (e.g., culture, religion, gender, complexion, ethnicity, sexual orientation). Prejudice degrades the human experience and can motivate people to behave in destructive ways.

Prejudiced beliefs are often related to stereotypes. Stereotyping involves the inaccurate categorizing of people. Stereotyping ascribes negative characteristics to people on the basis of their group membership or other visible characteristics. Some theorists consider stereotypes pictures that people carry about others which are usually flawed and lead to assumptions. Prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping are interrelated and tend to feed on each other. Such attitudes and behaviors may affect the self-actualization of stigmatized people negatively and result in significant human suffering. Counseling psychologists have argued that bearing prejudices has deleterious consequences. At a minimum, prejudice and discrimination can contribute to identity crises for the target populations and members of distinct cultural groups as they struggle with negative evaluations and projections.

All cultural groups display prejudice toward others, regardless of their status (i.e., dominant or non-dominant group membership). People born and raised in racist, sexist, ageist, heterosexist, and otherwise oppressive systems tend to operate from internalized beliefs that are informed by these hierarchies. Though processes involving “unlearning” the socialization reinforce prejudices, individuals may begin to address how holding on to prejudices influences their appraisals of themselves and others. Moreover, being the target of prejudices may become a significant part of cultural socialization experiences, thus shaping how individuals respond toward members of other groups. When individuals are confronted with something or someone different from themselves, they may view the new object negatively if they themselves have been targets of prejudice and discrimination.