PREJUDICE

Prejudice is judgment about an individual or group of individuals on the basis of their social, physical or cultural characteristics. Prejudice can also be exercised to give undue favour and advantage to members of particular groups. Prejudice is often seen as the attitudinal component of discrimination.

Prejudice can also mean harm or injury to a person that may result from a judgement or action, especially one in which his or her rights are disregarded, as in the expressions:

"without prejudice to any future judgement"

"the prejudicial effect of his action."

"On Prejudice" - William Hazlitt.

Prejudice, in its ordinary and literal sense, is prejudging any question without having sufficiently examined it, and adhering to our opinion upon it through ignorance, malice, or perversity, in spite of every evidence to the contrary.

Prejudice is the child of ignorance: for as our actual knowledge falls short of our desire to know, or curiosity and interest in the world about us, so must we be tempted to decide upon a greater number of things at a venture; and having no check from reason or inquiry, we shall grow more obstinate and bigoted in our conclusions, according as we have been rash and presumptuous.

The Prejudice Perception Assessment Scale: Measuring Stigma Vulnerability among African American Students at Predominantly Euro-American Universities - Dorie J. Gilbert, University of Texas-Austin. Journal of Black Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 3, 305-321 (1998). Building on previous social-psychological studies, the Prejudice Perception Assessment Scale (PPAS) was developed to measure stigma vulnerability-the phenomenon of attributing negative, interpersonal feedback to prejudice in ambiguous situations-among African American students on predominantly Euro-American campuses. This article describes the methodological procedures followed in developing the PPAS, a brief scale composed offive vignettes aimed at assessing the extent to which participants tend to perceive prejudice as the cause of negative, interpersonal outcomes in ambiguous situations.

Two Social Psychologies of Prejudice: Gordon W. Allport, W.E.B. Du Bois, and the Legacy of Booker T. Washington
Stanley O. Gaines, Jr., Edward S. Reed, Franklin and Marshall College.
Journal of Black Psychology, Vol. 20, No. 1, (1994).
This article describes two distinct lines of theory and research on the social psychology of prejudice. The first (i.e., mainstream) line acknowledges an intellectual debt to Gordon W Allport and has tended to focus on the destructive effects of prejudice and discrimination on African Americans and other ethnic minorities. Throughout this article, Booker T Washington's conciliatory stance regarding ethnic relations is used as a point of departure for exploring the differences and similarities between the two social psychologies of prejudice.

Regional and Ethnic Prejudice in Italy - 1994.
ABSTRACT: The 1994 Survey on Regional and Ethnic Prejudice in Italy was designed to assess the attitudes of Italians toward recent immigrants from Africa and Eastern Europe, and to measure the current state of relations between Northern and Southern Italians. It also included many items on politics and society.

Accounting for extreme prejudice and legitimating blame in talk about the Romanies - Cristian Tileaga, Loughborough University - Discourse & Society, Vol. 16, No. 5, 603-624 (2005).
This article examines the particulars of extreme prejudiced discourse about ethnic minorities in a Romanian sociocultural context. The analysis suggests that talk about Romanies is more extreme than the anti-alien, anti-immigrant prejudiced talk studied by numerous western critical researchers. It is more extreme because Romanies are not merely portrayed as being different, but also as being beyond the moral order, beyond nationhood, difference and comparison. Talk about Romanies employs a style that, at the same time, denies, but also protects extreme prejudice. In examining the dynamics of extreme prejudice against Romanies, this article provides a critical investigation of the social and political consequences of extreme discursive patterning.

Prejudice and Proximity - An Analysis of Age Differences
James J. Dowd, University of Georgia
Research on Aging, Vol. 2, No. 1, 23-48 (1980).
Using data from a national sample, the hypothesis that frequency of contact with blacks is associated with less antipathy toward blacks was tested. With multiple regression techniques, it was found that residential proximity has a negative effect on prejudice, thus supporting Allport's "contact hypothesis." The major finding of the study, however, was that contact did not uniformly affect prejudice for respondents of all ages but interacted with age to produce variable changes depending on region and education level. The author concludes that, while prejudice is higher among older cohorts, this is due in large part to differing patterns of socialization and to the lesser contact with blacks among older whites.

Prejudice-Reduction Simulations: Social Cognition, Intergroup Theory, and Ethics - Angie Williams, Howard Giles, University of California, Santa Barbara
Simulation & Gaming, Vol. 23, No. 4, 472-484 (1992).
Taking a social psychological perspective, the capacity for prejudice-reduction simulations to change prejudicial attitudes is examined using theoretical insights from social cognition and intergroup literatures.

Prejudice-Reduction Simulations: Ethics, Evaluations, and Theory into Practice - Deborah A. Byrnes, Gary Kiger, Utah State University - Simulation & Gaming, Vol. 23, No. 4, 457-471 (1992).
This article examines ethical issues in the use of prejudice-reduction simulations, with specific reference to evaluation research conducted on the BLUE EYES-BROWN EYES activity. Problems arising in the evaluation of prejudice-reduction simulations are discussed. Finally, a research agenda is proposed that calls for addressing intergroup-relations theory in the design of prejudice-reduction simulations.

Prejudice and Enforcement of Workforce Homogeneity as Explanations for Employment Discrimination - Lars-Eric Petersen; Joerg Dietz - Source: Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Volume 35, Number 1, January 2005.
Abstract: We examined the effects of subtle and blatant prejudice and the enforcement of workforce homogeneity on employment discrimination in an experimental simulation. German participants who were advised to maintain a homogeneous workforce, as hypothesized, selected fewer foreign applicants for a job interview than did participants who did not receive this advice. An interaction qualified this main effect, such that subtly prejudiced participants reacted to the advice to maintain a homogeneous workforce, but blatantly prejudiced and nonprejudiced individuals did not.

Perspective and Prejudice: Antecedents and Mediating Mechanisms
John F. Dovidio, Marleen ten Vergert, Tracie L. Stewart, Samuel L. Gaertner, James D. Johnson, Victoria M. Esses, Blake M. Riek, Adam R. Pearson, - Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 30, No. 12, 1537-1549 (2004).
The present work investigated mechanisms by which Whites’ prejudice toward Blacks can be reduced and explored how creating a common ingroup identity can reduce prejudice by promoting these processes.

Of Polls and Race Prejudice
Sports Illustrated’s Errant "Indian Wars"
C. Richard King, Washington State University - Ellen J. Staurowsky, Department of Sport Studies at Ithaca College - Lawrence Baca, National Native American Bar Association - Laurel R. Davis, Springfield College - Cornel Pewewardy, Department of Teaching and Leadership, School of Education at the University of Kansas - Journal of Sport & Social Issues, Vol. 26, No. 4, 381-402 (2002).
The authors highlight the place of Indian stereotypes within EuroAmerican and Native American communities, the intersections of race and power animating such mascots, and the prejudice and terror encouraged by mascots and media coverage of them.

Prejudice as Stress: Conceptual and Measurement Problems
Ilan H. Meyer, PhD.
In the field of social sciences, there has been a renewed interest in studying prejudice and discrimination as stressors and assessing their impact on various health outcomes. This raises a need for theoretically based and psychometrically sound measures of prejudice. There are several conceptual issues that need to be addressed.