Prejuicios

A prejudice is an unfavorable and distorted attitude and opinion against persons, ethnic groups, organizations, and religions, regardless of contrary data. Prejudices are based on misinformation, exaggerated or accidental generalizations that can be observed in all areas and activities of society, in any social group, in any age group, and are linked to behaviors or attitudes of discrimination. Prejudice closes before compelling arguments, with a hostile attitude toward a person who belongs to a certain group (social, ethnic, sexual, political, economic, occupational, religious, sports, age, territorial). Antisocial behavior is unfair, and it does not contribute to social development. Prejudice leads to offend, to slander and reject. The prejudices arise for convenience, to discriminate, exclude or dominate without moral qualms. A cognitive prejudice is a cognitive distortion in perception. The generalization of the own negative experiences can be a prejudice.

The American psychologist John Dollard suggested that prejudice is the result of frustration, and recognizes that it is the basis of discrimination against human dignity. According to current theories prejudice is an attitude learned from childhood to adulthood. It is difficult to eliminate prejudice, as people believe in them and accepts no rebuttals. A mistaken belief when there is resistance to change. Prejudice translates into observable discriminatory behavior against a person or group of persons, who are battered and marginalized. Racial prejudice are linked to ethnic prejudice as a negative attitude towards different groups. Under pressure from some human rights movement, racial discrimination has decreased; however, today, the subtle racism still denies opportunities to minority groups.

We will never be able to measure the full effects of prejudice. I believe it affects everyone, even if it occurs at a subconscious level. I will be the first to admit that I am prejudice; I judge people daily by how they dress, talk, and look. Prejudice has a heavy psychological impact on the ones to whom it is directed at; moreover, it shows the ignorance of the person displaying the prejudice. I believe prejudice can be lessened, but it will never be eliminated. There are a few things that could be done to lessen prejudice in America today. One of the first things I would suggest we do is to teach all the youth to never judge someone based on the group they are associated with, but to only judge them based on their productive ability. This would have a domino effect; kids will push each other in school from a very young age (which is the most important time) to work to their highest ability. This would, in turn, generate smarter kids from the educational system. This could all happen if each individual taught their children that they need not judge on skin color, clothes, or social status, but judge on productive ability.

Is Prejudice Inevitable? Is it a personal dysfunction or a learned behavior? There are so many questions that we can ask our peers and ourselves on this one topic alone. I am going to attempt to answer but a handful of these questions. Prejudice as the name suggests, is the process of “pre-judging“. In other words, it means to come to a conclusion about a subject matter before knowing anything about it. Do I believe it is inevitable? No, I believe that we are to a certain extent, all prejudice against something or someone, whether we intend to be, or if it is in our subconscious. An example of this would be a man or a woman in a relationship when something does not go quite right. He/she may form a bias opinion about that person with whom they are involved. If the relationship turns sour the hurt party will in future relations, make an effort to be more conscious of and avoid others whom they may feel are similar to the party by whom they were hurt or disappointed; possibly forming an opinion that is unfavorable and blanket the

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