Prejudice against girls and women sometimes manifests itself in a hidden form, and sometimes it is simply shocking. Of course, nowadays newborn girls are no longer abandoned in the mountains, condemning them to certain death, as it sometimes happened in Ancient Greece. However, in many developed countries, the death rate among girls exceeds that of boys, and the number of “missing” women exceeds the number of “missing” men. When a man wants to get a job that is traditionally considered female, discrimination is shown “with the opposite sign.” Elizabeth Turner and Anthony Pratkanis, on behalf of a local college student in a small village enrolled in a preschool education program, sent identical letters to 56 preschool education centers and kindergartens asking for jobs (Turner & Pratkanis, 1994). About half of the recipients who received letters signed “Mary I. Johnson” replied that “they were interested in the proposal and would like to discuss it.” Only one out of ten recipients responded in this way to letters signed “David I. Johnson.” A group of gay students at the University of Illinois announced that one of the spring days should be held under the motto: “If you’re gay, wear jeans today!” When that day came, many of those students who usually wore jeans woke up with an irresistible urge to put on a skirt or wide trousers. This confirmed the assumptions of homosexuals: the attitude towards them is such that many preferred to give up their usual clothes, so that no one would suspect them of homosexual tendencies (RC Agenda, 1979). Overweight people also face prejudice, especially overweight white women seeking to find a life partner or a job. The results of both correlational and laboratory studies (in which subjects presented themselves as either obese people or people of normal weight) indicate that overweight people are less likely to start families, they are hired in less prestigious positions, they earn less and are perceived as less attractive, intelligent, happy, disciplined and successful (Gortmaker et al., 1993; Hebl & Heatherton, 1998; Pingitore et al., 1994). In real life, overweight discrimination is even more noticeable than racial or gender discrimination, and it manifests itself at all stages of a career: when applying for a job, when assigning jobs, when being promoted, when paying compensation, when disciplinary action is imposed, and when being fired (Roehling, 2000).

“Prejudice”, “stereotypical thinking”, “racism”, “sexism” — these terms are often used to refer to the same phenomena. Let’s try to figure them out. Each of the situations described above is characterized by a negative assessment of a group. This is precisely the essence of prejudice: a negative preconceived opinion about a group and its individual representatives. (Although some definitions of prejudice also mention positive bias, nevertheless the term “prejudice” is almost always used to refer to negative tendencies, namely what Gordon Allport in his classic work “The Nature of Prejudice” called “antipathy based on erroneous and inflexible generalization” [Gordon Allport, The Nature of Prejudice, 1954, p. 9]). Prejudice makes us biased towards a person just because we perceive him as a representative of a particular group. Prejudice is an attitude. An attitude is a certain combination of feelings, inclinations to certain actions, and beliefs. Therefore, prejudice is a combination of feelings, behavioral tendencies (propensities to certain actions) and cognition (beliefs). A person with prejudice may dislike those who differ from him and discriminate against them by their actions, believing that they are dangerous and ignorant. Like many attitudes, prejudices have a complex structure; they may even include such an element as sympathy, expressed in the form of patronage, which, however, only worsens the situation of the person to whom it is directed. Negative evaluations as an indicator of prejudice can be associated with emotional associations, the need to justify one’s own behavior, or negative beliefs called stereotypes. To think stereotypically is to generalize. We use generalizations to make the world simpler and clearer: the British are introverted, Americans are sociable, and professors are absent—minded. The following are some widespread stereotypes that have been the subject of recent research. — In the 1980s, women who used the title of Ms. (Ms.) [Ms. — it is used before a woman’s last name if her marital status is unknown or if she consciously emphasizes her equality with a man. — Note. perev.They were perceived as more persistent and ambitious than those who called themselves “miss” or “Mrs.” (Dion, 1987; Dion & Cota, 1991; Dion & Schuller, 1991). However, nowadays, the perception of this title as evidence that a woman has retained her maiden name in marriage has become stereotypical (Crawford et al., 1998; Etaugh et al., 1999). — In 19 nations, older people are perceived as more pleasant, but less strong and active than younger people (Williams, 1993). — The results of public opinion polls suggest that Europeans have a certain opinion about other Europeans. The Germans have a reputation as “workaholics” (in a certain sense), the French as pleasure seekers, the British as cold and unflappable people, the Italians as amorous, and the Dutch as reliable. (Since these data were obtained in 1996 by Willem Koomen and Michel Bechler at the University of Amsterdam, there is no reason not to trust them!) — Residents of Northern European countries consider “southern” Europeans to be more emotional and less qualified than themselves (Linssen & Hagendoorn, 1994). The stereotype of Southerners as more emotional people also exists within individual countries: according to James Pennebaker and his colleagues, residents of 20 countries in the northern hemisphere believe that their fellow citizens from the south are more expressive than natives of northern regions, which, however, cannot be said about residents of 6 countries in the southern hemisphere (Pennebaker et al. al., 1996). Such generalizations may be more or less justified (and they are not always negative). Older people are indeed less active. In countries located in the south of the northern hemisphere, the crime rate related to violence is actually higher. Residents of the southern regions of these countries are indeed more emotional than residents of the northern regions. Teachers’ approaches to explaining motivational differences and different attitudes towards the achievements of students belonging to different classes, races, and genders are stereotypes that reflect reality to a certain extent (Madon et al., 1998). “Stereotypes can be positive or negative, right or wrong” (Jussim, McCauley & Lee, 1995). A true stereotype may even be desirable. We call it “sensitivity to diversity” or “cultural awareness in a multicultural world.” Sharing the stereotypical image of the British as people more concerned with punctuality than the Mexicans means understanding what can be expected from representatives of each of these cultures and how to behave with them so that friction is minimal. Problems with stereotypes arise when they either reflect excessive generalization or are completely incorrect. It is clearly an exaggeration to assume that the majority of American social services clients are African Americans, since in fact this is not the case. In the stereotypical ideas of university students that members of certain clubs prefer foreign languages to economics or softball [Softball is a widespread sports game in the United States, similar to baseball. The game takes place on a smaller field using a larger ball than in baseball. — Note. perev.] — tennis, there is not only a rational grain, but also a clear exaggeration. Individuals within any group affected by an ingrained stereotype differ from each other more than one might expect (Brodt & Ross, 1998). Prejudice is a negative attitude; discrimination is a negative behavior. Prejudice-based attitudes are often the source of discriminatory behavior (Dovidio et al., 1996). However, as emphasized in chapter 4, the connection between attitudes and behavior is often weak; this is partly due to the fact that our behavior reflects more than just our inner beliefs. Just as it cannot be said that all attitudes based on prejudice necessarily lead to hostile acts, so it cannot be said that any oppression is a consequence of prejudice. Racism and sexism are institutionalized discriminatory practices, and they remain so even when they are not associated with prejudice. When the recruitment practice based on oral recommendations in all companies run by white Americans blocks access to potential employees from national minorities, it can be called racist even if the employer himself does not even think about discrimination. Source: Myers D. “Social Psychology” Photo: cdn.super.ua