Prejudice and Discrimination

Prejudice and Discrimination

Shanae K Tanner
Social Psychology
Salt Lake Community College

Prejudice and Discrimination

Of course I have prejudices! I would be lying if I said I didn't, and to add to this point I don't
think I have ever met anyone that doesn't have a prejudice about something. What does it mean
to act on them? My prejudices have come from many sources and or circumstances, I will try to
explain how having these biases have affected me in my life, and describe my feelings of being
discriminated against as I continue. Changing a person's mind how they feel about something
especially if it is a negative feeling is not easy. A person has to feel like the feelings they are
having or the things they are doing are wrong in the first place to even begin to think about
changing them. If they feel they are wrong, they then have to have the desire to change their
ways.
Prejudice, what is it and how do we come to possess the feelings it creates? A short definition of
prejudice would be: an attitude toward someone or a group of people that is negative. I knew I
had some negative feelings toward a group of people, and I knew that I had some other vices, but
when I took the IATs I have to say I was a little surprised with the outcome of a few of them. I
am still questioning the validity of the IATs. I took one that came up with results saying that I
was moderately automatic toward thinking that African Americans were weak and dumb. This
was interesting to me because I consciously believe the complete opposite, I think they are some
of the best athletes out there. Another one of the tests had to do with trust/mistrust of police,
fireman and military, the results came in, moderate automatic association military with mistrust
than trust. This surprised me a bit as well, I have never had reason to not trust the military. The
third one I took was on religion, the results on this IAT didnt surprise me at all, in fact it was
right on the money as far as I was concerned. The results went in order, of Christian, Judaism,
Buddhism and Islam. I guess the only thing that really caught me off guard was that Islam wasnt
further down on the scale. I have had some experiences that havent sat well with me when it
comes to that religion. Over all the IATs were kind of fun to take.
I started asking myself the question what does it mean by acting on this attitude? I really was
curious about this, I didn't feel or think that I have acted on my prejudices, it turns out I have and
I do. There are three levels of prejudice the third of which is acting out. by Dr. Gordon Allport,
they are as follows:
Cognitive Level - This is the thinking/perception that one has about a particular idea/concept or
group of people. This includes traits attributed to its members.
Emotional Level - How an individual feels about a group, its members or its symbols.
Action Level - The tendency to act in a certain way towards a group or its members. The more
intensely someone holds a prejudice - the more likely it is that the person will act on it.
Prejudice and Discrimination

Once one gets to the action Level there are different intensity levels of action six to be exact,
they include antilocution, avoidance, discrimination, subtle aggression, physical attack and
extermination (Wales Web 6/25/2016). I have gotten to level 2 of the intensity level. I have gone
as far as avoidance. To my defense I avoid anything, anyone, I am uncomfortable around, it's not
the best way to cope, but it staves off confrontation.
When thinking about the majority of my prejudices I would have to say they stem from how I
was raised initially. A few of them probably grew worse because of hearing others stereotype,
and still one or two more became quite bad do to a scary experience. The best way I have found
to get rid of them is to basically try to confront them in a non-threatening way.
Twenty years ago a friend of mine lined me up with her brother in law, long story short, he tried
to push me to do things I wasn't wanting to do, he wouldn't take no for an answer. He got
forceful, pinned me for a few moments but I was able to get away. The experience frightened me
and really created a fear of this man's race, and accent.
I felt unease anytime I heard an accent like his or saw a man of his skin color, it brought the
memory of that night and what almost happened flooding back. It took me years to fight off the
feeling that all men of his skin color were like him, and to feel like I could be safe around them. I
overcame these feelings by making myself be around the people of his color, I did this mostly
due to a sister in law dating a man of this race. I have now recently begun to feel comfortable
around men of this race for the first time in twenty years, this probably has a lot to do with my
sister in law having a baby with a man of this race.
The word prejudice also makes me think of the word fear which can turn to hate. Fear rules my
life at times, I try not to let it, but it often gets the best of me. Because my prejudices are mostly
mine because of fear, they have been very difficult for me to overcome, and they do keep me
from living my life the way that I should and the way that I could. I know that I miss a lot of
opportunities meeting people because of my fears, but I also know that these same
prejudices/fears have kept me and my children safe many times. So the question I ask myself is it
worth trying to get rid of all the prejudices I have in my life, even if they were taught to me as a
child. I try to battle them one by one.
Discrimination can be perceived in many ways, I can say that yes this has happened to me on
many occasions, it has had to do mostly with my religion. I try to just let it go in one ear and out
the other, for no matter what one says about my religion, it isn't going to change what I think
about it or how I feel.
The only time I have felt discriminated against where it did bother me was in a class I took. I am
caucasian, and I was the minority of the class, there were I believe 3 caucasians in the class, and
I was the oldest of the three. I felt I was being called on a lot, I also noticed that when the class
Prejudice and Discrimination

had to hand in our journals the teacher would scan through all the journals just to make sure the
student did them, she would get to mine, and she would read each of my entries, I know she did
this because she would hand everyone back and keep mine and take it home with her. I would get
my journal back with all sorts of notes and critiquing.
I got really frustrated with how she was being so particular with the work I was handing in, I
was not noticing her doing this with anyone else. She would wait for other students to raise their
hands to comment, and yet she would call on me to comment, I would comment on my own
when she didn't call on me so I didn't understand why she did this. It was stressing me out, I was
dealing with other stress at home. Between home that class, and a few other things, I ended up
just quitting the class, it was about through the semester, we were almost finished, but I
couldn't take it anymore. I look back now, and wonder why in the world did I let her get to me so
badly? I would have had one less class to take this semester if I had finished that class.
I believe it takes a lot to change a person's way of thinking in most cases, but I know it can be
done. I have had my opinions changed many times, but I know it has only happened because I try
to keep an open mind to others thoughts and opinions. I know that I don't know everything, and I
am always willing to learn more. That being said there are a few things that I am very stubborn
about and I will not have an open mind about and will not allow someone to try and change my
thinking on, it has to do with my religion, and my family. I love both dearly and they are my life.

Prejudice and Discrimination

Works Cited
In Wales (Sun Feb. 11th, 2007 6:30:37 AM EST)
Prejudice and the Allport's Scale
European Tribune
http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2007/2/9/174945/7647