Stereotypes, Prejudices And Discrimination: Why Should We Avoid Prejudging?
Nowadays it is common to hear the words stereotype, prejudice and discrimination in a multitude of social and professional contexts. This overuse of these three concepts can lead to errors and misunderstanding about what they really mean.
We must become aware that they are words that refer to important social realities and whose effects are the cause of pain for thousands of people on the planet.
For the reasons stated, It is necessary to know the nature of these realities from the definition provided by Psychology
Definition and significance
The stereotypes are beliefs or organized ideas about the characteristics associated with different social groups: physical appearance, interests, occupations, ethnicities, etc. These are simplified images of how groups are seen and what they do. The categories are made up of interpretations, ideas and opinions about the elements.
From Psychology, these cognitions and interpretations about social groups are stereotypes. We all have stereotypes because our mind organizes concepts into categories, and they are not always negative; we must understand them as two sides of the same coin.
The dangers of generalizing
In short, stereotypes are widespread generalizations about the members of a social group that cause a tendency to accentuate similarities within the group, especially when the categorization has value or importance for the person making it and the differences with other groups.
If we meet a black and foreign woman, we are classifying her into the groups of woman, foreigner and black race, because by classifying her within these categories, stereotypes arise towards them from the three groups and if they are negative, a series is created. of beliefs and ideas about them that surely do not correspond to reality.
The formation of stereotypes is usually of social origin through observational learning. This is the reason why the naturalness and spontaneity with which stereotypes are learned in our social behavior is common. In this case, andIt is necessary to point out that we must be able to put reflection first to the heuristic that involves generalizing excessively, especially in the case in which, more or less unconsciously, we have negative stereotypes towards a group of people. Broadening the focus and abstracting ourselves from the cultural background that imposes certain pre-established ideas on us can be key when it comes to looking at reality in a natural and non-stereotypical way.
Prejudices
Definition
The prejudices They are the positive or negative feelings and emotions that one has about a social group and its members Affective evaluations depend on beliefs about the group. It is the affective component associated with the categories, the assessment. They are directly related to stereotypes, that is, if a stereotype is negative, negative prejudices can be generated and if the stereotype is positive, positive prejudice can be generated.
Judging a priori
The basic difference is that Prejudice is a kind of emotional evaluation, while stereotype is a prior belief of a cognitive nature Generally speaking, prior ideas and beliefs give rise to evaluations that are already “biased” in a positive or negative way. Those who identify with Atlético de Madrid value those who are members of the team more positively, while Real Madrid members will initially be valued negatively. Prejudices and stereotypes are usually present at the same time without originating in different phases.
Finally, discrimination differs from the previous ones in that it is behavior itself. is defined as the differentiated and observable behavior towards a social group or its members In the case of the example of the black woman that we saw in the stereotypes, the people who surround this woman, in addition to stereotypes, can develop prejudices and this can lead to discrimination, that is, a negative differentiated behavior will be presented or it may be positive for some others towards him.
Analyzing prejudices, stereotypes and discrimination from cognitive psychology
To identify stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination we must study someone who belongs to a certain social group, and who, by virtue of being a member of it, is discriminated against by another person who comes from a different group. To analyze them, it is necessary to first observe the discriminatory behavior and from this, infer both prejudices and stereotypes, since in this way, from the observable and objective we infer the emotional, which are prejudices, and the cognitive, which are the stereotypes.
As we can see, These concepts are related but they are different and it is necessary to know the differences between them well Depending on the circumstances, they may or may not show a relationship, that is, someone may develop stereotypes and prejudices but not discrimination, or they only develop stereotypes but not prejudices or discrimination. Stereotypes generally give rise to prejudices that can lead to discrimination.
Transferring what is exposed to daily life
With these definitions in mind, we can know if discrimination itself is taking place in our closest environment and what is more important, perceive if there are signs in the form of stereotypes, prejudices or both that can lead to discriminatory behavior.
