Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

stereotype 
A set of generalized beliefs 
and expectations about a particular 
group and its members.
prejudice 
A negative (or positive) 
evaluation of a particular group and its 
members.
discrimination 
Behavior directed 
toward individuals on the basis of their 
membership in a particular group.
Study Alert
Remember that 
prejudice
relates to 
attitudes
about a 
group and its members, 
while 
discrimination
relates to 
behavior
directed 
to a group and its members.
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Module 54 
Prejudice and Discrimination 
599
The Foundations of Prejudice
No one has ever been born disliking a specifi c racial, religious, or ethnic group. 
People learn to hate in much the same way that they learn the alphabet. 
According to observational learning approaches to stereotyping and prejudice, the 
behavior of parents, other adults, and peers shapes children’s feelings about mem-
bers of various groups. For instance, bigoted parents may commend their children 
for expressing prejudiced attitudes. Likewise, young children learn prejudice by imi-
tating the behavior of adult models. Such learning starts at an early age: Children as 
young as 6 months judge others according to their skin color, and by 3 years of age 
they begin to show preferences for members of their own race (Ponterotto, Utsey, & 
Pedersen, 2006; Dovidio & Gaertner, 2006; Bronson & Merryman, 2009). 
The mass media also provide information about stereotypes not just for children 
but for adults as well. Even today, some television shows and movies portray Italians 
as Mafi a-like mobsters, Jews as greedy bankers, and African Americans as promiscu-
ous or lazy. When such inaccurate portrayals are the primary source of information 
about minority groups, they can lead to the development and maintenance of unfa-
vorable stereotypes (Coltraine & Messineo, 2000; Ward, 2004; Do, 2006). 
Other explanations of prejudice and discrimination focus on how being a mem-
ber of a specifi c group helps to magnify one’s sense of self-esteem. According to 
social identity theory, we use group membership as a source of pride and self-worth. 
Social identity theory suggests that people tend to be ethnocentric, viewing the 
world from their own perspective and judging others in terms of their group mem-
bership. Slogans such as “gay pride” and “Black is beautiful” illustrate that the 
groups to which we belong give us a sense of self-respect (Tajfel & Turner, 2004; 
Hogg, 2006). 
However, the use of group membership to provide social respect produces an 
unfortunate outcome. In an effort to maximize our sense of self-esteem, we may come 
to think that our own group (our ingroup ) is better than groups to which we don’t 
belong (our outgroups ). Consequently, we infl ate the positive aspects of our ingroup— 
and, at the same time, devalue outgroups. Ultimately, we come to view members of 
Like father, like son: Social learning approaches to stereotyping and prejudice suggest that 
attitudes and behaviors toward members of minority groups are learned through the 
observation of parents and other individuals. How can this cycle be broken?
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