Theory of Conflicts Theory of Character and Characterization
racist of sexiest remarks. And also, they may have single, negative experience with a specific member of a group that then generalize and apply to all members of the group.
The second way people develop prejudice is through cognitive process. According to this perspective, prejudice develops as a result of normal cognitive process
and the every day attempt to explain a complex social life. And this cognitive process is divided in three categorisations. First, people create in-groups and out-groups. An in-
group is any category in which people see themselves as a member, while an out-group is all others. In-group is seen as more attractive, as having more desirable personality
characteristics, and engaging in more socially accepted forms of behaviour. The second cognitive process is this group has tendency to see more diversity
among members of one’s in-group and less among the out-group. This “ they-all-look- alike-to me” tendency is termed the out-group homogeneity effect. This is a kind of
cognitive bias. It is dangerous because when members of minority groups are not perceived as varied and complex individuals who have the same needs and feelings as the
dominant group, it is easier to perceived them as faceless objects and treat them in discriminatory ways. And the third cognitive process is the tendency to blame the victim,
a type of attribution bias. The third way people develops prejudice is out of an individual’s personality
needs. From this perspective, people with traits of rigidity, conventionality, and sadism tend to do prejudice. To identify it researchers use F scale. People who scored high on the
F scale is known as the authoritarian personality. The fourth way that is believed to develop prejudice is out of competition for
limited sources. It is maintained because it offers significant economic and political
advantages to the dominant group. In the United States lower class whites have been more racist than the high-class whites. Whites in the lower class, however, are at risk to
unemployment because minorities compete with them for scare resources. The fifth way prejudice is developed is displaced aggression. In this section
frustration become the trigger of prejudice. Frustration leads people to attack the source of frustration. But when the source is bigger and capable of retailing, of when the cause
of the frustration is ambiguous, people often displaced aggression on an alternative, no threatening target. The innocent victim of displaced aggression is known as scapegoat.
For example, during the great depression of the 1930’s, Hitler used Jews as scapegoats that Germans could blame for their economic troubles.