Social Pyschology Prejudice - 1729 Words

What is the cause of prejudice? This is one of the few questions of interests in the field of social psychology. This essay will evaluate the social psychological approach to understanding prejudice. Social psychology is a scientific form of explaining human behaviour. It was developed by Gordon Allport in 1985, social psychology focuses on social interactions that cause various behaviours. It is scientific because behaviour can be observed therefore measured in many forms. This is an objective way of collecting data that can then be used as proof to back up series of theories. One of the main points in social psychology is that it doesnt just focus on motor activities but also on behaviour such as facial expressions which can also be†¦show more content†¦Another case would be where that certain individual gets peer pressured and almost pushed into being prejudice without their own will. Prejudice (Ramsden, 2014). Racism can happen in many ways but will still have the same outcome. When one stereotypes to another, racism rises and labelling begins. An experiment done by Jane Elliott (1968) demonstrated stereotyping towards group of individuals which created racist remarks when labelled. She introduced prejudice to her class of nine year olds by labelling the blue eyed children as more intelligent than the brown eyed children. Elliott (1968) purposely applied strict rules such as that the brown eyed children were to drink from a paper cup and have less time in recess. With in a short period of time she witnessed how much the childrens attitude changed from being sweet and innocent to what she described as nasty, vicious and discriminatory behaviour towards the brown eyed children. In her study, she also noticed how much the blue eyed children did better in their education whereas the brown eyed people dropped scores below their average. When Elliott reversed roles, she observed the same behaviour. Controversies (Rhodes, 2013). This study was not very ethical. Jane Elliott failed to protect her class of children from harm. The children were labelled which made them start behaving in the roleShow MoreRelatedThe Racism Of African Americans2803 Words   |  12 Pagesdigressive talk that has socially constructed them as criminals and disturbed individuals, which challenges their humankind and their entitlement to an honest to goodness social and racial personality. Such racialized talk has it’s establishes in suppression, was duplicated among the Jim Crow period, and is kept up today through systemic prejudice to keep them from having a solid character, one that the world can acknowledge and respect. Regarding the matter of personality, Blacks have a bewildering, yet