1. International Relations Institute Moldova
The Role of Prejudice
Lynn W. Zimmerman, PhD
Fulbright Scholar
International Relations Institute Moldova
Chisinau, Moldova

2. Intergroup Attitudes Attitudes
Influence how we respond toward objects or people
Cognitive – ideas, beliefs
Affective - emotional reactions to the person or thing

3. Uses of Intergroup Attitudes (Katz, 1960):
Negative intergroup attitudes can have two consequences:
“Increase our confidence in predicting strangers’ behavior, but they also decrease the accuracy of our predictions” (p. 137)
“lead to anxiety in interacting with strangers” (p. 137)

4. Matching ethnocentrism
Judging all groups according to your own group’s values
cultural relativism
The ability to understand the behavior of others within the context of their culture
prejudice
An attitude and an emotional reaction based on a stereotype which can lead to discrimination
discrimination
Biased behavior toward and treatment of someone or a group
xenophobia
Fear of strangers/foreigners
racism
Prejudice based on race
sexism
Prejudice based on sex/gender
ageism
Prejudice based on age
anti-Semitism
Prejudice against Semitic peoples, specifically Jews

5. Ethnocentrism Judge all groups according to own values
Related to nationalism
Can lead to
ideas of superiority
anxiety about interacting with strangers
“Can have positive functions for the ingroup, but it consequences for outgroups tend to be negative” (p. 139)

6. Crash
What evidence of ethnocentrism, and even xenophobia, do you see?

7. Some Functions of Ethnocentrism (Rosenblatt, 1964)
Nationalism/ethnocentrism can help maintain ingroup integrity (Rosenblatt, 1964)
High levels of ethnocentrism can be
Functional
Dysfunctional
Misperception of outgroups – everyone in group will hold these views and be reinforced

8. Cultural Relativism
Ability to understand the behavior of others within the context of their culture
Requires
openness to other cultures
knowledge about them

9. Prejudice
An attitude based on a stereotype which can lead to discrimination 
Can be an attitude and an emotion.
Attitude – develops from negative stereotypes
Emotional – appraisal that someone is being unfairly treated at our expense
Often a resistance to and an inability to deal with strangers

10. Dimensions of Prejudice
“We are all prejudiced to some degree” (p. 143)
Related to our perception of how to treat strangers
Racism
Anti-Semitism
Anti-gay/homophobia
Ageism
Sexism
If people are not highly prejudiced they will change their prejudgment based on info
“highly prejudiced people tend to alter their beliefs to justify their attitudes when confronted with contradictory information” (p. 145)

11. Explaining prejudice - Katz (1960)
Utilitarian – related to in-group/outgroup
Ego-defensive – blaming others
Value-expressive – negative feelings just because the other is different
Knowledge – helps us organize our world
The window for change
When someone person learns something new about other and is open to changing.

12. Prejudice and Discrimination
Discrimination – behavior and how someone is treated
 Strangers tend to believe that discriminatory behavior is directed at their group, not just at them individually.
Overt prejudice (Stephan & Stephan, 1996)
A result of perceived threats
Negative stereotypes of strangers
Affected by:
Amount of previous experience/prior contact with this group
How positive that contact was or is
Status inequality- May be unequal status
Strength of identification with ingroup
Lack of knowledge = higher anxiety – inability to predict

13. Covert prejudice Internalized prejudicial attitudes
Conflict between what we think we should believe and behave, and how we do (Myrdahl)
Positive and negative feelings
Two dimensions to prejudice
negative attitudes about outgroups
lack of positive attitude toward them

14. Prejudice & Communication
Prejudice affects intergroup communication
Stereotyping
Hate speech
Derogatory terms
Discriminatory attitudes
Media contribute by consistently showing stereotyped images

15. Responding to ethnocentrism and prejudice
Expressing our views, either positive or negative, influences those around us.
We are also influenced by their expressing their views.
Beliefs won’t necessarily change, but the willingness to express them does.
 How do we react?
To take a moral stand also means to speak up.
Silence = condoning

16. Aspen Declaration of Character Education
Respect
Responsibility
Trustworthiness
Caring
Justice and fairness
Civic virtue and citizenship

17. Changing our expectations of strangers
Can prejudices and stereotypes change?
Our interactions with strangers can influence change.
Make a conscious effort
Can change how you feel toward another group as a whole
Increased contact is important in this process.

18. References
Gudykunst, W.B. & Kim, Y.Y. (2003). Communicating with strangers: An approach to intercultural communication. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw- Hill.