CHAPTER 21
Prejudice, Racism, and Discrimination
KENNETH L. DION
507THE PSYCHOLOGY OF BIGOTRY 508
Authoritarian Personality Theories 508
Just World Theory 510
Belief Congruence Theory 510
Ambivalence Approaches 512
Automatic and Controlled Processing 516
Integrative Approaches 520
Conclusion 524
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE VICTIM OF PREJUDICE
AND DISCRIMINATION 524
Attributional Ambiguity Perspectives 525
The Personal-Group Discrimination Discrepancy 527
Perceived Prejudice and Discrimination as Stressors 527
Stereotype Threat 529
Relative Deprivation, Perceived Discrimination,
and Desire for Corrective Action 531
Conclusion 531
A FINAL THOUGHT 532
REFERENCES 532Prejudice (i.e., biased and usually negative attitudestoward
social groups and their members), racism (a negatively ori-
ented prejudice toward certain groups seen as biologically
different and inferior to one’s own), and discrimination (un-
fairbehavioror unequal treatment accorded others on the
basis of their group membership or possession of an arbitrary
trait, such as skin color) have been favored topics of research
and theorizing for many years by psychologists—especially
social and personality psychologists—around the world. Of
these three concepts, prejudice is perhaps the most central
and important. Prejudice underlies racism and is also be-
lieved to motivate acts of discrimination. Between 1887 and
2000, nearly 4,000 papers were published on prejudice in
journals covered by the American Psychological Associa-
tion’s electronic database of published psychological litera-
ture. Since the 1950s, in particular, the pace of psychological
research on prejudice has steadily increased.
Much like prejudice as a topic in international prose and
poetry (Larson, 1971), the psychology of prejudice reflects
two main themes: (a) the psychology of the bigot,which
seeks to understand why some people are prejudiced toward
certain groups and their members, and (b) the psychology of
the victim of prejudice and discrimination,which focuses on
the psychological correlates and consequences of experienc-
ing or perceiving oneself to be an object or target of preju-
dice or discrimination. These two principal themes likewise
provide the basic organization for this chapter.
Research on the psychology of the bigot far exceeds that
on the psychology of the victim of prejudice and discrimina-
tion. One reason for this differential emphasis undoubtedly
stems from the optimistic view that if the psychology of big-
otry could be truly understood, scientifically based remedial
efforts could then be devised and deployed to reduce, if not
eliminate, prejudice at its source within the bigot. Yet, even if
we suddenly possessed a magic bullet that instantly turned
bigots into tolerant people, a strong case could be made for a
psychology of the victim. Among other reasons, some of the
prejudice and discrimination confronting members of op-
pressed groups comes from structural and institutional forms
of racism, sexism, and all other “isms” rather than being
solely due to intolerant and bigoted individuals. The task of
addressing the social structural bases of prejudice within so-
ciety and its institutions is apt to be far more daunting and
difficult than reducing prejudices in individuals with psycho-
logical or other means—a formidable enough challenge in its
own right (see the chapter on reducing prejudice by Dovidio
in this volume).Preparation of this chapter was made possible by a research grant to
Kenneth L. Dion and Karen K. Dion from the Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council of Canada.