Stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination

Today it is common to hear the words stereotype, prejudice and discrimination in many social and professional contexts. This overuse of these three concepts can lead to errors and misunderstanding about what they really mean.

We must become aware that these are words that refer to important social realities and whose effects are the cause of pain for thousands of people on the planet.

Stereotypes: what are they?

For the reasons stated, it is necessary to know the nature of these realities from the definition provided by Psychology.

Definition and significance

The stereotypes are organized beliefs or ideas about the characteristics associated with different social groups: physical appearance, interests, occupations, ethnicities, etc. These are simplified images of how groups are viewed and what they do. The categories are made up of interpretations, ideas and opinions about the elements.

From Psychology, these cognitions and interpretations about social groups are stereotypes. We all have stereotypes because

our mind organizes concepts into categories, and they are not always negative, they must be understood as two sides of the same coin.

The dangers of generalizing

In short, stereotypes are widespread generalizations about the members of a social group that provoke a tendency to accentuate the similarities within the group, especially when the categorization has value or importance for the person doing it and the differences with other groups.

If we know a black and foreign woman, we are classifying her in the groups of women, foreigners and black race, due to classifying her within these categories, they arise stereotypes towards them of the three groups and if they are negative, a series of beliefs and ideas are created about them that surely do not correspond to the reality.

The formation of stereotypes are usually of social origin through observational learning. This is the reason why the naturalness and spontaneity with which stereotypes are learned in our social behavior is frequent. In this case, eIt is necessary to point out that we must be able to put reflection before to the heuristic that supposes to generalize in excess, especially in the case in which, more or less unconsciously, we have negative stereotypes towards a group of people. Expanding the focus and abstracting ourselves from the cultural background imposed on us by certain pre-established ideas can be key when looking at reality in a natural and non-stereotyped way.

Prejudices

Definition

The prejudices are the positive or negative feelings and emotions that one has about a social group and its members. Affective evaluations depend on beliefs about the group. It is the affective component associated with the categories, the assessment. They are directly related to stereotypes, that is, if a stereotype is negative, it is they can generate negative prejudices and if the stereotype is positive, a prejudice can be generated positive.

Judging a priori

The basic difference is that prejudice is a kind of emotional evaluation, while stereotype is a prior belief of a cognitive nature. Generally speaking, previous ideas and beliefs give rise to evaluations that are already “biased” in a positive or negative way. Those who identify with Atlético de Madrid value more positively those who are team members, while Real Madrid members will be valued from the outset. negative. Prejudices and stereotypes are usually present at the same time without originating in different phases.

Discrimination

Definition and examples

Finally, discrimination differs from the previous ones in that this is behavior itself. is defined as the differentiated and observable behavior towards a social group or its members. In the case of the example of the black woman that we saw in the stereotypes, the people who surround this woman in addition to stereotypes, can develop prejudices and this can lead to discrimination, that is, a differentiated negative behavior will be presented or it may be positive for some others towards His person.

Analyzing prejudices, stereotypes and discrimination from cognitive psychology

To identify stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination we must study someone who belongs to a certain social group, and that by being a member of it, is discriminated against by another person who comes from a different group. To analyze them, it is necessary to first observe the discriminatory behavior and from this, infer both prejudices and stereotypes, since in this way, from the observable and objective we infer the emotional, which are prejudices and the cognitive, which are the stereotypes.

As we can see, These concepts are related but they are different and it is necessary to know well the differences between them. Depending on the circumstances, they may or may not show a relationship, that is, someone may develop stereotypes and prejudices but not discrimination, or they only develop stereotypes but not prejudices or discrimination. In general, stereotypes give rise to prejudices that can lead to discrimination.

Transferring the exposed to daily life

With these definitions in mind, we can know if discrimination itself is occurring in our closest environment and what is more important, to perceive if there are indications in the form of stereotypes, prejudices or both that can lead to discriminatory behavior.

It is in our hands to identify these situations and act to prevent them or, ultimately, remedy them.

• I recommend you read: "The 10 reasons to stop judging others"