How are prejudices formed?
Prejudice is both the belief and behaviour towards a group or an individual, based on stereotypes and generalizations rather then on evidence and experience. These irrational assumptions are formed due to one or more of three causes: society’s generalizations, one’s upbringing and one’s inaccurate analysis of personal experience. International business-affairs, literature, well-known films and real life experiences all demonstrate the obvious contribution of these causes on the formation of our prejudices.
Society’s generalizations should be taken as a pinch of salt. These widespread assumptions are usually jokes, stereotypes or cultural observations, with no legitimate statistics or research to validate them. However, after being constantly surrounded by these generalizations, one starts to associate certain attributes to a group or an individual without just reasons. The effect of two generalizations, “African Americans are criminals,” and “People with tattoos are criminals,” was clear a few weeks ago, when a friend avoided sitting near a group of teenagers purely because of their specific appearance. Her fearful belief and behaviour wasn’t based on any knowledge of the people in question – her prejudice was clearly due to social generalizations. Another example of prejudice took place in December 2009, in an international meeting known as LeWeb, where investors, developers and journalists from around the world networked. A debate was sparked, comparing Silicone Valley and French entrepreneurs. The generalization that French workers were luxurious and lazy surfaced and was referenced as “fact”, offending many attendees there. This prejudice, this unjustified assumption, became more than a joke, having the power to offend and damage co-workers and business relations. Society’s generalizations is a very powerful cause in the formation of our prejudices, the jokes and stereotypes having a far more profound effect on our beliefs and behaviours than previously thought.
The second cause, our upbringing, also has a profound effect on the creation of our assumptions. This is because childhood is the time when we are most easily influenced – the circumstances we grew up have a definite impact on our prejudices today. For example, the parents in Rattawut Lapcharoensap’s short story, Priscilla the Cambodian, pass down their contempt towards Cambodian refugees to their 11-year-old son. This prejudice that sets in obstructs the boy from understanding and befriending the refugees for much of the story. His unjustified beliefs and behaviour are obviously due to the people who raised him. Parents, however, are not the only influential factor of childhood – what you grow up with has an impact as well. Disney films are what the 21st century child grows up with, and they teach us a morally questionable lesson – unattractiveness is a synonym for wicked or wrong. The villains of various Disney movies, such as Cinderella’s mother, the hyenas of The Lion King, the witch from The Little Mermaid and Captain Cook from Peter Pan all are represented with hideous features and unattractive faces. The evil queen from Snow White even shape-shifts from being the second fairest of the land to a grotesque hag in order to maintain the belief that exterior ugliness is a reflection of within. This offensive subtext behind the films leads to a significant formation of prejudice in the minds of young viewers, who begin to unjustifiably associate ugliness or unattractiveness with negativity. Factors of our childhood are definite causes to the formation of our prejudices.
The final cause of prejudice is the incorrect analysis of personal experiences. Humans like to find patterns and categories in light of new information and experiences, and this behaviour often leads to unjust assumptions. A clear example of this is one of my own experiences, where I encountered, on four occasions, Brazilian workers that were laid back and unhurried, with a tendency to be late or inefficient. These repeated occurrences were analyzed, and I believed the pattern was, as offensive as it is to say, the nationality. I hazarded that it was a cultural, collective aspect of Brazilians. Due to this unreasonable categorizing, I hosted this prejudice against Brazilian workers, associating them with disorganization and delays. A few weeks later, at the airport, I learned that my flight had been delayed, and my prejudicial attitude blamed the unproductive Brazilian workforce. This was grossly unjustified – the flight had been delayed because of the hurricane in New York – and this incident really magnified how unfair my assumptions had been. Unfair assumptions were also made by the airport security team of LAX; their experience from 9/11 made them prejudiced towards those of Middle-Eastern descent. In summer of 2011, a high-school teacher was planning to fly from China to America, but got stopped by the security force for an examination, purely due to the fact that his middle name was Muhammad. Both of these examples show how personal experiences, when analyzed incorrectly, are a cause of unjust, unfair prejudice.
Prejudice is formed by one or more of three causes: society’s generalizations, one’s upbringing and one’s twisted conclusion of experiences. They are formed by stereotypes and cultural generalizations. They are formed by the movies we grow up with, formed by the people who raise us. They are formed by the distorted interpretations of our personal experiences. Prejudice is formed by a myriad of causes, its injustice an unwavering part of our world.
Society’s generalizations should be taken as a pinch of salt. These widespread assumptions are usually jokes, stereotypes or cultural observations, with no legitimate statistics or research to validate them. However, after being constantly surrounded by these generalizations, one starts to associate certain attributes to a group or an individual without just reasons. The effect of two generalizations, “African Americans are criminals,” and “People with tattoos are criminals,” was clear a few weeks ago, when a friend avoided sitting near a group of teenagers purely because of their specific appearance. Her fearful belief and behaviour wasn’t based on any knowledge of the people in question – her prejudice was clearly due to social generalizations. Another example of prejudice took place in December 2009, in an international meeting known as LeWeb, where investors, developers and journalists from around the world networked. A debate was sparked, comparing Silicone Valley and French entrepreneurs. The generalization that French workers were luxurious and lazy surfaced and was referenced as “fact”, offending many attendees there. This prejudice, this unjustified assumption, became more than a joke, having the power to offend and damage co-workers and business relations. Society’s generalizations is a very powerful cause in the formation of our prejudices, the jokes and stereotypes having a far more profound effect on our beliefs and behaviours than previously thought.
The second cause, our upbringing, also has a profound effect on the creation of our assumptions. This is because childhood is the time when we are most easily influenced – the circumstances we grew up have a definite impact on our prejudices today. For example, the parents in Rattawut Lapcharoensap’s short story, Priscilla the Cambodian, pass down their contempt towards Cambodian refugees to their 11-year-old son. This prejudice that sets in obstructs the boy from understanding and befriending the refugees for much of the story. His unjustified beliefs and behaviour are obviously due to the people who raised him. Parents, however, are not the only influential factor of childhood – what you grow up with has an impact as well. Disney films are what the 21st century child grows up with, and they teach us a morally questionable lesson – unattractiveness is a synonym for wicked or wrong. The villains of various Disney movies, such as Cinderella’s mother, the hyenas of The Lion King, the witch from The Little Mermaid and Captain Cook from Peter Pan all are represented with hideous features and unattractive faces. The evil queen from Snow White even shape-shifts from being the second fairest of the land to a grotesque hag in order to maintain the belief that exterior ugliness is a reflection of within. This offensive subtext behind the films leads to a significant formation of prejudice in the minds of young viewers, who begin to unjustifiably associate ugliness or unattractiveness with negativity. Factors of our childhood are definite causes to the formation of our prejudices.
The final cause of prejudice is the incorrect analysis of personal experiences. Humans like to find patterns and categories in light of new information and experiences, and this behaviour often leads to unjust assumptions. A clear example of this is one of my own experiences, where I encountered, on four occasions, Brazilian workers that were laid back and unhurried, with a tendency to be late or inefficient. These repeated occurrences were analyzed, and I believed the pattern was, as offensive as it is to say, the nationality. I hazarded that it was a cultural, collective aspect of Brazilians. Due to this unreasonable categorizing, I hosted this prejudice against Brazilian workers, associating them with disorganization and delays. A few weeks later, at the airport, I learned that my flight had been delayed, and my prejudicial attitude blamed the unproductive Brazilian workforce. This was grossly unjustified – the flight had been delayed because of the hurricane in New York – and this incident really magnified how unfair my assumptions had been. Unfair assumptions were also made by the airport security team of LAX; their experience from 9/11 made them prejudiced towards those of Middle-Eastern descent. In summer of 2011, a high-school teacher was planning to fly from China to America, but got stopped by the security force for an examination, purely due to the fact that his middle name was Muhammad. Both of these examples show how personal experiences, when analyzed incorrectly, are a cause of unjust, unfair prejudice.
Prejudice is formed by one or more of three causes: society’s generalizations, one’s upbringing and one’s twisted conclusion of experiences. They are formed by stereotypes and cultural generalizations. They are formed by the movies we grow up with, formed by the people who raise us. They are formed by the distorted interpretations of our personal experiences. Prejudice is formed by a myriad of causes, its injustice an unwavering part of our world.