Causes of Prejudice
Prejudice stems from various sources, from large-scale intergroup conflicts down to individual personality traits. Understanding why prejudice develops is the first step toward understanding how it persists and how it might be reduced.
Theories of Intergroup Conflict
Realistic conflict theory argues that prejudice arises when groups compete for limited resources. When one group perceives a threat to its interests, hostility toward the competing group increases.
- Competition can be economic (jobs, wages), political (power, representation), or territorial
- The classic demonstration is Sherif's Robbers Cave Experiment (1954): researchers divided boys at a summer camp into two groups and introduced competitive activities. The result was rapid hostility between groups that had no prior reason to dislike each other. Cooperation toward shared goals later reduced that hostility.
Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner) takes a different angle. It says prejudice grows out of our basic need for positive self-esteem through group membership.
- People naturally categorize themselves and others into ingroups and outgroups
- To feel good about themselves, individuals compare their ingroup favorably against outgroups
- Minimal group paradigm experiments showed this happens even when group assignments are completely arbitrary (e.g., assigned by coin flip). Participants still allocated more resources to their own group, suggesting ingroup favoritism doesn't require real competition to emerge.
Individual Factors Contributing to Prejudice
Not all prejudice comes from group dynamics. Several individual-level factors make some people more prone to prejudiced thinking.
Authoritarian personality describes a cluster of traits linked to prejudiced attitudes: rigid thinking, strong obedience to authority, and intolerance of ambiguity. Theodor Adorno and colleagues developed this concept in the late 1940s to understand the psychological roots of fascism and antisemitism. They measured it using the F-scale (Fascism scale), which assesses tendencies like submission to authority and aggression toward outgroups.
Intergroup anxiety is the discomfort or threat people feel during interactions with outgroup members.
- This anxiety can lead to avoidance of intergroup contact, which in turn reinforces prejudiced attitudes because the person never gets corrective experiences
- It often stems from lack of prior positive contact or from exposure to negative stereotypes
- Positive intergroup contact and exposure to counter-stereotypical examples can reduce it
Scapegoating involves blaming an outgroup for problems that aren't actually their fault. It serves as a psychological defense mechanism: rather than sitting with feelings of helplessness, people redirect blame onto a vulnerable target.
- Scapegoated groups are typically already marginalized, making them easier targets
- Historical examples include antisemitism in Nazi Germany and spikes in xenophobia during economic downturns, when immigrants are blamed for job losses
Manifestations of Prejudice
Biased Intergroup Behavior
Ingroup favoritism is the tendency to give preferential treatment to members of your own group. This shows up in resource allocation, social preferences, and how you evaluate other people's performance. A key finding from minimal group paradigm research is that ingroup favoritism can occur even without outgroup hostility. You don't have to dislike the other group to favor your own.
Outgroup derogation goes further: it involves actively negative attitudes, beliefs, or behaviors directed at outgroup members.
- It ranges from subtle forms (microaggressions, social exclusion) to overt forms (verbal slurs, discriminatory hiring practices, violence)
- These behaviors are often rooted in stereotypes and overgeneralized negative attributes applied to an entire group
- Outgroup derogation operates across domains: employment, housing, education, and everyday social interactions
Internalization of Prejudice
Stereotype embodiment describes what happens when targets of prejudice internalize the negative stereotypes about their own group. Through repeated exposure to prejudiced attitudes and discriminatory treatment, individuals may begin to accept those negative views as true.
- This can lead to decreased self-esteem, performance anxiety, and self-limiting behaviors
- Stereotype threat (Claude Steele) is a closely related phenomenon: when people are aware that a negative stereotype applies to their group in a given situation, that awareness alone can impair their performance. For example, women reminded of the stereotype that "women are bad at math" before a math test tend to perform worse than women who aren't primed with that stereotype. The same pattern has been demonstrated with African American students and academic testing.
Consequences of Prejudice
Perpetuation of Stereotypes and Discrimination
Self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when expectations about a group lead to behaviors that end up confirming those expectations. The cycle works like this:
- A person holds a biased expectation about a group (e.g., "these students aren't academically capable")
- That expectation shapes their behavior (e.g., providing less academic support or encouragement)
- The target responds to that treatment (e.g., performing worse due to fewer resources)
- The original expectation appears "confirmed," reinforcing the bias
Rosenthal and Jacobson's Pygmalion effect study (1968) demonstrated this in classrooms: teachers told that certain students were "intellectual bloomers" (randomly selected) gave those students more attention, and those students actually showed greater IQ gains.
Prejudice also reinforces existing social inequalities at a structural level. Institutional discrimination refers to systemic biases embedded in policies and practices, such as redlining in housing or funding disparities between schools in different neighborhoods. These structural barriers affect education, employment, healthcare, and criminal justice, contributing to persistent socioeconomic gaps between groups.
Psychological and Social Impact
For individuals targeted by prejudice, the consequences are both psychological and physical:
- Chronic exposure to discrimination is associated with increased stress, anxiety, and depression
- Long-term health effects include elevated risk of cardiovascular problems and substance abuse
- Stereotype threat reduces not just test performance but also broader academic and career aspirations over time
- Social isolation and a reduced sense of belonging in workplaces, schools, and other settings compound these effects
At the group level, prejudice erodes intergroup relations and social cohesion.
- It creates mistrust and tension between social groups
- It reduces opportunities for the kind of positive intergroup contact that could actually break down biases
- In extreme cases, prejudice escalates into hate crimes, ethnic conflicts, and organized violence