Factors Affecting Prejudice - Individual Differences

Question 1

Factors affecting prejudice

Answer 1

The authoritarian personalityAllport’s authoritarian personalityRight wing authoritarianismSocial dominance orientation

Question 2

The authoritarian personality

Answer 2

Adorno et al Harsh parenting leads to child whose personality type is obedient and prone to prejudiceVery loyal and high standards of achievement, offer conditional loveChildren identify with authoritarian parents but feel hostile about conditional love, fear of punishmentDisplay anger onto someone, usually socially inferior people

Question 3

Allport’s authoritarian personality

Answer 3

AllportUnconditional parental love -> confidence, empatheticNot prejudice but receptive to political arguments targetting inner fears and insecurities

Question 4

Right wing authoritarian traits

Answer 4

Altemeyer RWA = obey authoritarian, aggressive, conventionalist

Question 5

People with right wing authoritarian

Answer 5

Learned set of beliefs about the world, socially learned but parents are not sourceBelieve world is dangerous, creates fearSuspicious and overtly hostile towards anyone who defies norm, conscientious and closed to new experiences

Question 6

What are people with social dominance orientation like

Answer 6

Pratto et alPrefer hierarchical versus equal distribution of powerSee world as competitive jungle, fight for powerLearn via role modelsMore common in men

Question 7

Strength

Answer 7

CohrsFound RWA +0.48 and SDO +0.28Both positively correlated with generalised prejudiceRWA negatively correlated for experience -0.22SDO negatively correlated with agreeableness -0.4Levels of prejudice can be accurately predicted from people’s personality traits

Question 8

CA of strength

Answer 8

RWA and SDO may not be consistent over timeBoth interact with social factorsLewin found Ashkenazi jews showed higher SDO scores compared with other jewish groups Differences appeared when Jewish groups primed to think about relationship between Israel and PalestineShows SDO is malleable

Question 9

Weakness

Answer 9

Louis et alRWA and SDO scales do not include items which are heavily affected by social attitudes or norms72% Australian participants strongly disagreed that white is the best race, but agreed exclusion of asylum seekersShows important to understand social as well as individual factors to address prejudice

Question 10

Application

Answer 10

Allport and Altemeyer note prejudice may be learned through exposure to specific worldviews and prejudical rhetoric sourcesCan help combat RWA and SDODemonstrate importance of thinking about root causes of prejudice