Social Psychology: Contributions to Reducing Inter-Group Prejudice - Essay Example

You Social Psychology: Contributions to Reducing Inter-Group Prejudice You Organisation You 2 This work explores the nature of social psychology and the impact of its research on reducing inter-group prejudice. Social psychology can best be defined as a scientific study measuring feelings, behaviours, or inferred perceptions in relation to how a person views other people. Social psychology recognises the complexities of an individual and assesses both internal thought mechanisms and external influences that drive behaviour. Most significantly noticeable in this field are the cultural expectations within social groups that become the underlying reasoning for prejudicial attitudes. Social psychology has offered several methods for reducing inter-group prejudice by assessing issues such as social interaction between groups, addressing cultural influence, and identity formation; even in adolescent groups. Each of the factors contributing to the reduction of these prejudices will be explored individually as well as the potential causes for negative assessments of differing social groups. You 3 Social Psychology: Research Contributions to Reducing Inter-Group Prejudice Reducing inter-group prejudice is often a complex task, especially from the standpoint of a social psychologist. In order to effectively improve social relationships and unsubstantiated perceptions of differing individuals, it is necessary to understand the contributing factors to prejudicial assessments of other groups. Prejudice is an intolerant, unfavourable, and rigid attitude toward a group of people (Morris & Maisto 2005, p.572). Prejudice is often a result of misinformation about differing groups, displaced hostility, and social expectations of what is considered acceptable behaviour. Social psychologists take a scientific approach to understanding the mechanisms that allow one social group to have negative opinions about another group and apply methods to alter perceptions as a means of reducing these prejudices. A major characteristic involved in the structure of a social group are the societal norms which indicate a set of shared expectations of what is considered proper behaviour. To best illustrate the concept of social norms, it would be relevant to explore the social makeup of modern adolescents. During developmental years, an adolescent attempts to form an identity by understanding personal characteristics which motivate his behaviours and opinions. In the process of formulating identity, the adolescent often moulds his behaviours based on the social norms established by others in his age group, sometimes even at the expense of his own preferences. The ingroup, the group offering exclusivity from other groups, is often the model to which the adolescent compares himself. Members of the ingroup view others who are not willing to conform to their expectations as the outgroup, meaning that a lack of conformity to the ingroups ideals leaves the outgroup undeserving of recognition or respect. You 4 From an adolescents standpoint, disapproval of the outgroup can often be based on monetary factors, choice of dress, ethnicity, or even scholastic aptitude. Perhaps the ingroup consists of those from a more socially affluent background and the members maintain prejudice for children from lower income households, thus banning the lower income group from being recognised as valuable human beings. Social psychology recognises this type of prejudice and might suggest a controlled processing method to encourage the ingroup to understand the reality of the outgroup. A controlled processing approach would be effective as a means with which to educate the ingroup about the challenges that the outgroup encounters as a lower income group. Introducing an educational film into the school about the day-to-day struggles of the lower income family might be an approach to teach tolerance. Through controlled processing, the students can come to recognise that there are significant strengths between the two social groups and could possibly serve to eliminate adult prejudice by tackling the issue while the adolescents are still impressionable. To effectively understand the nature of social expectations, it becomes necessary to realise the personalities of individuals in social groups. Authoritarian personalities, people who rank high on scales of conformity, intolerance, insecurity, and submissiveness to superiors (Henslin 2003, p.352), generally believe that something is either right or wrong; with no in-between. This rigidity in the authoritarian view of others is to label other groups as inferior as a means to justify his own opinions. Should this individual hold a position of esteem within society, it often sets the tone for mass prejudice against anyone who doesnt conform to his established code of conduct. Changing the attitude of the authoritarian personality is a major You 5 challenge for social psychologists because the nature of his expectations is that everyone should behave a certain way. Any individual who might take an opposing viewpoint will be labelled a threat to established norms. Children who are exposed to a parent with an authoritarian personality are often reprimanded for holding non-conformist viewpoints when the child attempts to express individualism by accepting the practices of outside groups. A Caucasian child, for instance, who embraces relationships with other children of various ethnicity, can be reinforced that such behaviour is intolerable. This sets a dangerous pattern for a lifetime of prejudice as the parent refuses to accept his ownership of an incorrect method of viewing others and superimposes his beliefs on the child. The same child, who might gain self-esteem from positive social relationships with others, can be attacked for his position as it differs from the parent. Social psychology methods for dealing with the authoritarian personality would vary greatly from the approach to controlled processing as the parents rigidity towards opposing viewpoints allows for little openness to cooperation. Rather, attempts at understanding the nature of the individuals insecurity might be a more logical approach. An authoritarian personality, when maintaining a leadership role, can directly assert his prejudice derived of insecurity onto others in society. The cause of the individuals insecurity varies by individual, but the impact of his societal views can be negatively widespread. In 1939, psychologist John Dollard suggested that people who cannot strike out at the real source of their frustration look for someone to blame for their troubles (Henslin, p. 352). The domineering mentality of the authoritarian personality subjects rather innocent groups to harmful prejudice without just cause. You 6 The frustration-aggression theory shows a cycle of prejudice in which the prejudiced group allows their frustration to spill over into anger and hostility. The people who become victims of displaced aggression become societal scapegoats and are blamed for societys problems. Social psychology research shows the direct relation between frustration-driven violence and the group from which the prejudice was initially implemented. The prejudice is often racially motivated. In regard to the frustration-aggression theory, the prejudiced group feels it cannot properly express its frustration against the appropriate group and transfers its hostility to a lesser group. Social psychological methods to break the cycle of frustration-aggression might start with reinforcing proper leadership among society. Ethnic violence stems from negative connotations that begin with leadership, much like Nazism in World War II. Social psychologists can help to educate equality by reinforcing diversity among societys populace on a broad scale. Modern methods, including using television as a medium to advertise persuasive messages about tolerance, are becoming effective agents within democratic nations. New beliefs consistent with peaceful conflict resolution are being developed to reinforce unity. First, though, the leadership of foreign nations must be focused on reducing prejudice before social psychology can be applied as a positive influence on reducing inter-group prejudice. There is a clear indication, however, that social psychologists are working to enhance the impact of the science. Other forms of inter-group prejudice lie in cultural differences that serve to negatively affect adult relationships in society. Cultural differences, ranging from religious beliefs to ethnicity, also relate to expectations for conformity. Historically, You 7 non-conformity to the expectations of dominating ruling bodies was often the cause for war and for the non-conforming entity to be conquered. Today, these same prejudices in relation to cultural belief systems serve to distance the global community. Social psychology might offer cooperative learning techniques in which differing groups come together in order to achieve cooperation rather than competition. This cooperative learning is an effective tool in that it breaks down the expectations for differing groups to conform to their ideals and it becomes a method for society to be educated about the belief system of others during cooperative activities. Application of such a method would not be as difficult as it might seem, especially in todays world of instant communication and effective transportation methods that can aid in linking the global community. As an acceptable practice for breaking down the barriers of cultural prejudice, a social psychologist can witness the effect of cooperative learning in studying the attempts toward cross-cultural awareness among business entities. Joint ventures and investments in foreign industry are unifying groups who once remained separated by a lack of cultural awareness, and, should a company adopt social psychology principles regarding cooperation, the end result will likely be a breakdown of prejudice due to misinterpretations of other cultures. Exposure is a vital factor to bridging the cultural gap and serves to give group members, regardless of their cultural belief system, an equal status in cooperative activities. The recent development of a cultural approach to psychology demonstrates that individuals from different cultural backgrounds often approach a situation with differing mentalities about appropriate social interaction patterns that tend to influence intragroup dynamics (Vodosek 2003, p.1). In essence, the perceptions of the prejudiced You 8 group on an individual basis largely influences the entire group. Social psychologists are expanding methods to address individual bias for the sake of creating positive inter-group relationships. On an ethnic level, social psychology offers recategorisation as an attempt to expand the schema for a particular group by viewing people from different ethnicity not as competitive entities, but as similar people with similar qualities. To illustrate, rather than residents of South Africa referring to themselves as South Africans, the approach would simply label themselves African to demonstrate that they are part of a continental society. Recategorisation can be an effective tool in reinforcing unity from a cognitive perspective; the less often a group is labelled as distinctly separated from group society, the more willing a group will be to accept their value as fellow human beings. Recategorisation might simply be offering illusionary tactics to promote unity, but the effect of classifying a group as similar to another is positive. It tends to eliminate categorising in a segregated aspect, eliminating the stereotype derived of racial or ethnic labels. Nowhere are the dynamics of inter-group ideals more prevalent than in the cultural distinction between dominant and minority groups. As part of the social expectations, the dominant group demands that the minority group adopt its principals and practices, rather than explore minority perspective. Historically, forced assimilation was demanded of minority groups in that the group could not freely express religion, speak its language, or follow its customs if they differed from the You 9 dominant norm. Social psychology promotes integration for diverse cultures that include free expression of minority customs. In further attempts to absorb minorities into the mainstream culture, social psychologists propose permissible assimilation. This active approach to promoting diversity allows a dominant group to not feel threatened by immediate attempts to integrate an undesired culture, but rather allows a minority group to adopt the dominant groups culture at its own speed. Assimilation between groups cannot be accomplished though, according to social psychology, until the dynamics of how a groups functions are addressed. Processes which consist of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and the group-as-a-whole define the interdependence of group thinking. These are the levels of group process (Wells, Alderfer, 1998, p.2). Intrapersonal consists of the thoughts and opinions within human beings. Interpersonal are the relationships between members of the same group and differ from the group-as-a-whole view on differing groups. Social psychologists recognise the abundance of factors involved in how one group views another in relation to a persons individual views about the differing group. To address only the interpersonal aspect of group thought would only serve to alienate the other factors of group process. For example, personal histories regarding an individuals previous experiences with a group often serve to create intrapersonal prejudices against another group. At the same time, the group-as-a-whole maintains differing reasoning behind their particular negative connotations of the second group. These factors can create a multitude of various prejudices that become quite difficult to quantify for a social psychologist. Rather than address the intrapersonal biases, social psychology suggests You 10 handling the group-as-a-whole in an attempt to change behaviours and attitudes. This, arguably, cannot be accomplished without altering the human tendency to formulate assumptions. Stereotypical ideas about a particular group are often most prevalent in continuing inter-group prejudice. Social psychology offers that it is the human propensity to make rash, unjustified judgements against others that creates conflict between different groups. The attribution theory suggests that people tend to make judgements about the cause of someone elses behaviour that are usually quite false. To illustrate, members of a social group might offer that a particular ethnic group is ignorant because they cannot speak English. The fact of the matter is most likely that the group chooses not to speak English because of their desire to honour heritage. These false assumptions tend to instil, however subliminally, a negative connotation that only grows through time as more and more members of the English-speaking group grow to believe these false attributions. Social psychologists recognise this tendency to make irrational assumptions and offer communication models to deal with the problem. Proper communication between differing groups can be accomplished with each side offering the reasons behind their motivations and in offering to allow outgroups to learn about its needs. The creation of inter-group prejudice is largely dependent on the nature of the opposing viewpoints between two groups and the value system of each group. Most often, prejudicial attitudes are borne of misunderstandings regarding cultural values, but can also become a custom in itself. To illustrate, racial inequality has been known You 11 to be a social norm in itself as the prejudice is handed down from generation to generation. The main goal of social psychology, in relation to ending inter-group prejudice, is to recognise all of the factors involved in prejudicial ideas and suppress its extension to future generations. Those in the field of social psychology have conducted numerous scientific studies in order to understand personality, behaviours, and social expectations within specific groups to successfully derive a root cause for inter-group prejudice. The evidence of effective social research points to a growing movement within the field of psychology to curb its influence once and for all. It can be argued that a problem cannot be solved until a person has explored the root of the issue and social psychologists have taken extensive steps to understanding the human capacity to harbour prejudice. There can be no doubt that cultural awareness is on the rise in modern society, thanks in part to unbiased research in social psychology and the mechanisms that drive irrational perceptions about different social groups. You 12 References Henslin, James M. (2003). Sociology: A Down-To-Earth Approach. 6th ed. : A & B Publishers. Morris, Charles G., and Albert A. Maisto. (2005). Psychology: An Introduction. 12th ed. : Pearson Prentice Hall. Vodosek Ph.D., Markus. (Dec 2003). "Finding the Right Chemistry: Relational Models and Relationship, Process, and Task Conflict in Culturally Diverse Research Groups." DAI-A 64/06 University of Michigan.Dissertation. . Wells, Jr., Leroy, and Clayton P. Alderfer. (Dec 1998). "The Effects of Ethnicity on the Quality of Student Life: An Embedded Intergroup Analysis ." The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. Read More