484 CHAPTER 12
and violence did not take place in the neighborhoods of the mostly white police offi-
cers or in the African American neighborhoods. The rioting was greatest in the neighbor-
hoods of the Asian Americans and Asians who were the most recent immigrants to the
area. When a group has only recently moved into an area, as the Asians had, that group
has the least social power and influence in that new area. So the rioters took out their
frustrations not on the people seen as directly responsible for those frustrations but on
the group of people with the least power to resist (Chang, 2004; Kim & Kim, 1999). After
the events of September 11th, 2001, many Muslims living in predominantly non-Muslim
countries may now be seen in a similar light, despite the fact that the atrocity was com-
mitted by one radical group.How People Learn and Overcome Prejudice
12.11 Describe theories of how prejudice is learned and how it can be
overcome.
As we will see in the Classic Studies in Psychology section, even children are, under the
right circumstances, prone to developing prejudiced attitudes. Exposure to the attitudes
of parents, teachers, other children, and the various forms of media are just a few ways in
which children can learn and develop prejudice.
ORIGINS OF PREJUDICE Is all prejudice simply a matter of learning, or are there other
factors at work? Several theories have been proposed to explain the origins and the
persistence of prejudice. In social cognitive theory (using cognitive processes in rela-
tion to understanding the social world), prejudice is seen as an attitude that is formed
as other attitudes are formed, through direct instruction, modeling, and other social
influences on learning.
REALISTIC CONFLICT THEORY The realistic conflict theory of prejudice states that
increasing prejudice and discrimination are closely tied to an increasing degree of con-
flict between the in-group and the out-group when those groups are seeking a common
resource, such as land or available jobs (Horowitz, 1985; Taylor & Moghaddam, 1994).
Because the examples of this from history and modern times are so numerous, it is possi-
ble to list only a few: the conflict between the early Crusaders and the Muslims, between
the Jewish people and the Germans, the hatred between the Irish Catholics and the Irish
Protestants, and the conflict between the native population of you-name-the-country and
the colonists who want that land. The section that follows is a classic study that illus-
trates how easily in-groups and out-groups can be formed and how quickly prejudice
and discrimination follow.These Korean demonstrators were protesting
the riots that followed the 1992 not-guilty
verdict in the beating of Rodney King. The riots
lasted 6 days, killing 42 people and damaging
700 buildings in mainly Korean and other Asian
American neighborhoods. The Asian American
population of Los Angeles, California, became
scapegoats for aggression.
social cognitive theory
referring to the use of cognitive
processes in relation to understanding
the social world.
realistic conflict theory
theory stating that prejudice and
discrimination will be increased
between groups that are in conflict
over a limited resource.
Classic Studies in Psychology
Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes
In a small town in Iowa in 1968, a few days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr., a second-grade teacher named Jane Elliot tried to teach her students a lesson
in prejudice and discrimination. She divided her students into two groups, those with blue
eyes and those with brown eyes.
On the first day of the lesson, the blue-eyed children were given special privileges,
such as extra time at recess and getting to leave first for lunch. She also told the blue-
eyed children that they were superior to the brown-eyed children, telling the brown-eyed
children not to bother taking seconds at lunch because it would be wasted. She kept the
blue-eyed children and the brown-eyed children apart (Peters, 1971).