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	Social Psychology II

		PREJUDICE AND CONFLICT A glance at the international headlines reveals a disturbing fact. Ethnic conflicts occur throughout theworld. In Eastern Europe, it involves the Serbs and Croats. In Northern Ireland it is Protestants and Catholics. In Rwanda, it is Tutsis and Hutus. And, in the United States, it is Blacks and Whites. In each instance, group membership defines the boundaries of the conflict and determines the perceptions that each group has of the other. Why do conflicts such as these exist and why do they travel the fault lines of race and ethnicity? Stereotypes And Prejudice Although the problems of stereotyping and prejudice have been with us throughout recorded history, psychologists became especially interested in them following World War II. After all, Germany was a well-established industrialized country known for its contributions to art, science, and philosophy. And yet its government adopted a policy that sought the extermination of all European Jews. Laws were enacted, Jews were arrested, death camps were built, and people died by the millions. How could this happen? What psychological processes made it possible? So far, psychologists have identified a number of personality-based, motivationally based, and cognitively based explanations for stereotyping and prejudice. In this section, we will look at each type of explanation. Before doing that, however, we need to start with some definitions. Stereotypes are beliefs about the characteristics, attributes, and behaviors of members of certain groups. "Blacks are athletic," "Asians are smart," "Jews are materialistic," "gays are promiscuous," and "Southerners are racist" all qualify as examples of stereotypes. They are simplified beliefs about the group that are frequently negative and have little or no connection to the actual behavior of individual members of the group. Prejudice is the affective component of stereotypes. To be prejudiced is to have feelings about someone based solely upon his or her membership in a group. Although prejudice can be positive - we could believe that all Australians are likeable - the concern is when it is negative. Discrimination is the behavioral component of stereotypes. Withholding compensation, beating someone up, or making sexual advances toward someone based solely upon his or her membership in a group would all be examples of discrimination. As you can see, the definitions of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination bear a striking resemblance to the ABC model of attitudes outlined earlier. Together, they highlight the roles that beliefs, feelings, and behavior play in interactions between members of different groups.
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	Click an activity to open it: • Conformity • Conformity Factors • Milgram Obedience Experiment • Why Obey • Bay of Pigs • Impression Formation • What's Going On? • In Your Face • Actors and Observers • Birds of a Feather • Ratings Game • Love Scale • Love Triangle • Attachment Style • Ad Categorization Activity • Dissonance Theater • Decision Model of Helping • Self-fulfilling Prophecy Movie • Impressions and Expressions • Reducing Prejudice • Prisoner's Dilemma • Faces of the Enemy