Why People Act with Prejudice

People behave according to prejudice when they react negatively to others on an emotional basis without direct contact or factual material about the others. People hate when someone acts with prejudice, but some types of prejudice are more hated than others. Here are a few reasons why people act with prejudice.

Reason for prejudice #1) The utilitarian or adjustment reason.

People have prejudices because in their culture these attitudes lead to rewards or avoidance of punishment. People want to be liked and will reject others if necessary to gain acceptance.

Reason for prejudice #2) The ego-defensive reason.

People hold certain prejudices to protect themselves from admitting inadequacies or problems with themselves.

Reason for prejudice #3) The value-expressive reason.

People hold certain prejudices because they are trying to express the aspects of life that they highly value. An example of this is a religious person who discriminates against people of other religions because they believe they are standing for the one true God or religion.

Reason for prejudice #4) The knowledge reason.

People hold certain prejudices because it organizes information about the world in a way that makes sense to them. They employ stereotypes when meeting people from a certain group so they do not have to think about the individual and can move on to other information more quickly.

To understand why prejudice exists it is important that you can distinguish it when it occurs. The best way to do this is to recognize that prejudice behavior has many forms and that all people act with prejudice occasionally.

Form of Prejudice #1) Red neck racism.

This is an extreme form of racism that exists when people believe members of a certain group are inferior according to an imagined standard and that these people do not deserve decent treatment. Usually as years of formal education increases, incidences of this type of racism decrease.

Form of Prejudice #2) Symbolic racism.

Symbolic racism occurs when people have negative feelings about a group because they feel the group is interfering with aspects of their culture that they have become familiar with. People in this category do not dislike the other group, but do dislike the percieved effects of the group. This form of prejudice is more widespread than redneck racism.

Form of Prejudice #3) Tokenism.

Tokenism is when people hold negative feelings about a group but do not want to admit it. They do not view themselves as prejudice or discriminatory because they engage in positive, but unimportant, intergroup behaviors. For example, they give a small amount of money to a group and then later refuse to donate a large amount or give time to that same group when they emphasizes intergroup relations.

Form of Prejudice #4) Arms-length prejudice.

People act friendly with people of a group in certain situations but keep those same people at a distance in other situations. Usually this form of prejudice occurs in settings that are more intimate, for example, a person is friendly in a casual work setting but hostile with more intimate behaviors like neighbor relations or dating.

Form of Prejudice #5) Real likes and dislikes.

In this type of everyday prejudice, people harbor negative feelings about a group because members of the group engage in behaviors that people dislike. An example is a person who dislikes littering that is less likely to interact pleasantly with members of a group that were seen littering.

Form of Prejudice #6) The familiar and unfamiliar.

This form occurs when people socialized into one culture are comfortable with aspects of their culture and when interacting with people from another culture they find behaviors and ideas unfamiliar and therefore unacceptable. Because of this people prefer to interact with members of their own cultural group. This may be seen as racism but may just be a reflection of people's preference for what is comfortable and non-stressful.