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9 
 
PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION 
Unit Structure: 
9.0 Objectives 
9.1 Introduction 
9.2 Prejudice and discrimination: feelings and actions towards 
social groups 
9.3 Is prejudice inevitable? Techniques to counter Prejudice and 
its effects
9.4 Questions 
9.5 References 
 
9.0 OBJECTIVES : 
After studying this unit you should : 
• Know why stereotypes leading to prejudice and 
discrimination persist. 
• Understand different techniques for overcoming prejudice 
and its effect. 
 
9.1 INTRODUCTION : 
Prejudice are belief about certain specific groups which may 
not be expressed in behaviour. When prejudice is expressed in 
behaviour it is called discrimination. There are many different 
techniques for countering prejudice and its effects, which are 
discussed in this unit. 
9.2 PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION : FEELINGS 
AND ACTIONS TOWARDS SOCIAL GROUPS : 
You have now understood the different terms like in-group 
out-group and the Us versus Them attitude. So it is now important 
to understand how our perception of inequality leads to forming 
outgroups.
Beliefs about the characteristics of social groups and 
members of these groups are known social stereotypes. And 
prejudice is the unjustifiable attitude towards out groups. This could 

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sometimes include negative feelings like hatred, anger, fear, dislike, 
disgust, etc., Example, You may be denied housing or a job 
because you belong to a particular group or category. Stereotypes 
are pre-learned from parents, adults, peers, media. Ruscher’s 
research (2001) shows that even four year olds stereotype about 
appropriate activities for boys and girls.
Children acquire negative attitudes toward various social 
groups through direct and vicarious learning experiences. Parents, 
teachers, friends, the mass media all play roles in the development 
of prejudice. Consider how minority groups or the two genders have 
been portrayed in the media. Some even argue that we are "born" 
with a bias to perceive dark stimuli as more fearful than lighter 
stimuli or fair color.
A prejudice is an extreme stereotype. The cognitive 
component is the stereotype; the affective component is a feeling of 
liking or disliking; the behavioural component is the various types of 
discriminatory action. Feelings and actions towards the social 
groups can progress, according to Allport, in five stages:
(1) Anti-locution comprising such things as malicious gossips, 
verbal putdowns and nasty jokes; (2) avoidance; (3) discrimination– 
when the object of the stereotype is excluded from certain rights; 
(4) physical attack; (5) extermination. Allport’s definition (1954) of 
prejudice is, “an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible 
generalization directed towards a group as a whole or towards an 
individual because he is a member of that group. It may be felt or 
expressed.” 
Feelings and actions towards different social groups are 
fairly stable over time, which means that once you have a prejudice 
then you, will keep it. Many research studies demonstrate that 
people often recall those facts that support their stereotype. Thus, a 
filtering process reinforces and sustains the prejudice.