Cognitive processes store information into the memory affects their judgement and behavior towards others from different backgrounds. When an individual is raised with different perspectives poured into them, they take on these perspectives and incorporate them into how they view life. According to Amodio (2014), prejudice stems from a mechanism of survival, built on cognitive systems that ‘structure’ the physical world, its function in modern society is complex and its effects are often causes damage. Many of these instances are not intentional, its more that it was how their brain was wired. The impact of culture on prejudice makes it common for individuals to normalize prejudice, because it was approved or promoted in their culture. According to Uhlmann (2013), Prejudices are often a way for a group of higher social status to explain and rationalize their privilege position in society. This is a main stance to consider with the gap of benefits and opportunities that are available to those of the minority (Or as they labeled). Once stereotypes and prejudice are formed, they become self perpetuating because they grow stronger inside the mind, similarly to the information we choose to study and gain insight on. The roots of prejudice can be found in the cognitive and emotional processes (Branscombe, 2016). By rewiring these processes, the root can be diminished.
4-1 KG (200 words and one reference)
A person’s beliefs and expectations regarding a particular group constitute the cognitive component of the prejudicial attitude. The cognitive approach, (cognitive theory of prejudice), suggests that prejudice is a function of cognitive processes where stereotypic information about social groups, stored in memory, is automatically activated and affects people’s judgments and behavior toward target group members. An example of this is believing that a product marketed by a celebrity is more valuable. While people like to believe that they are rational and logical, the fact is that people are continually under the influence of cognitive biases. These biases distort thinking, influence beliefs, and sway the decisions and judgments people make daily. These biases happen because we can’t evaluate every detail and event when forming thoughts and opinions. Because of this, we often rely on mental shortcuts that speed up our ability to make judgments, but sometimes lead to bias ( Saposnik, Redelmeier, Ruff & Tobler 2016). The psychological bases for prejudice are people’s values, the ways they see themselves and others, their sense of social identity, and social norms that define who is included in or excluded from social groups. The cognitive dimensions of prejudice relate to issues such as stereotypes and beliefs about outgroup members. Stereotype measures involve the endorsement of negative stereotypes about members of the outgroup. The source of prejudices comes from social differences, conformity, frustration-aggression, social identity, social categories, attribution, and stereotypes. Prejudice develops because of group formation, identification, and continuous interaction. Once groups are formed, group members learn the appropriate attitudes about themselves and other groups from others. A prejudiced person may not act on their attitude. Therefore, someone can be prejudiced towards a certain group but not discriminate against them. Also, prejudice includes all three components of an attitude (affective, behavioral, and cognitive), whereas discrimination just involves behavior. In terms of their development, both classic and contemporary research demonstrates that stereotypes and prejudice are learned through social communication and interaction. Stereotypes are just as strong, and prejudice is just as negative, about groups with which we have little contact as they are about groups with which we have frequent, everyday interaction. These results are difficult to account for from an outgroup-interaction perspective but follow naturally from the sharing of social norms among ingroup members. Furthermore, social norms have a strong influence on both the explicit expression of stereotypes and prejudice as well as the implicit cognitive representations of group beliefs–the knowledge itself (Sechrist & Stangor 2001). When people hold prejudicial attitudes toward others, they tend to view everyone with the defining characteristic as being all the same. They paint every individual who holds specific characteristics or beliefs with an extremely broad brush and fails to look at each person as a unique individual. Sometimes, prejudice is confused with discrimination. While prejudice involves having negative attitudes toward members of a certain group, discrimination occurs when those feelings are acted upon. There are numerous types of prejudice, some of which include: Ageism, Classism, Homophobia, Racism, & Sexism to name a few. Beliefs that are held about a specific group of people, in terms of their traits, behavior, and even characteristics are what we refer to as stereotypes. Stereotypes as cognitive frameworks that influence the processing of social information (Branscombe & Baron, 2016). A Stereotype is a simplified assumption about a group based on prior experiences or beliefs & is self-perpetuating in our minds, growing stronger with use just like information we actively try to cement in our memory. Going through the world making assumptions about other people with stereotypes we’ve learned is another form of mental practice. With more rehearsal, those assumptions get stronger over time, even when we have no tangible evidence to back them up stereotypes are the cognitive component of intergroup biases. Social scientists have uncovered the unsettling truth that no matter how egalitarian a person purports to be, their unconscious mind holds some racist, sexist or ageist thoughts. But a new study finds that this may say less about the person and more about the culture that surrounds him or her. The new study finds that while people are quick to associate word pairs that recall stereotypes (think “black – poor” versus “black – goofy”), this tendency is rooted not in the social meaning of the words, but in the likelihood of the words appearing together in literature and media. In other words, this implicit prejudice is driven more by culture than by any innate horribleness in the person (Pappas 2011.)
4-2 KK (200 words and one reference)
Institutions that treat individuals from diverse backgrounds, such as different races, ages, or even gender, differently than the majority of individuals is what we refer to as institutional bias (Branscombe & Baron, 2016). This went on a lot many generations ago in schools where the bulk of pupils were African American and pupils from another race were dealt with differently, this applies the new way around where we called “white school” where African Americans or pupils from another race were the minority. These minority groups are and still are being treated differently from those that are not in the group as you see institutional bias is still living today.
The following play a big part in institutional biases attitudes, stereotypes, and prejudices. It is these actions toward the minority groups that affect and shape how they are treated. As an individual, you may have never mistreated a minority group if it was not for these biases that have been spread. These attitudes and behaviors may not have been negative if it wasn’t for the influences of the surroundings.
Cultural influence can jolt institutional biases if the system does not have great programs in place that prevent any cultural bias and injustice. If the system does not take steps to stop any injustice, it can rapidly turn into an institutional bias that can hurt, and negatively jolt those of the minority groups.
