Prejudice and bias

Prejudice is a biased way of thinking that comes from mistaken assumptions about a group of people. It shows up as negative attitudes and emotions toward individuals simply because they belong to that group.

One process that contributes to prejudice is categorization and comparison of groups. We naturally - and often unconsciously - sort people into groups based on factors such as wealth, social class, prestige, power, race, ethnicity, religion, political orientation, educational background, geographic location, and the distinction between blue-collar and white-collar occupations.

These categories can lead to opinions formed from personal experiences or second-hand information, whether or not that information is accurate, about groups seen as “other.” For example, people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds might view the affluent as snobbish or disconnected, while people from wealthier backgrounds might assume that those in poverty lack intelligence or work ethic.

Similarly, blue-collar workers may stereotype white-collar workers as impractical or elitist, while white-collar workers may hold similar beliefs and question blue-collar workers’ capacity for intellectual discussion. It’s important to note that these occupational labels describe the type of work, not income level. Some white-collar jobs, such as secretarial work or teaching, can pay less than highly skilled blue-collar trades like plumbing or industrial maintenance.

Emotion and cognition’s roles in prejudice

Emotion plays a major role in how prejudice develops. When an encounter with a member of a particular group triggers a negative emotional reaction, it’s easy to generalize that feeling to the entire group, creating a prejudice. For example, a baby or young child might meet someone from a different group - perhaps someone with a different skin color or distinct attire, such as a woman wearing a hijab that includes a face veil - at the same time as a frightening event, like being separated from a parent while shopping. The fear from the situation can become linked to the person and then, by extension, to the group.

Often, these emotion-driven reactions don’t come only from direct experience. They can also be shaped by preexisting biases influenced by media portrayals or other people’s opinions. In that case, fear or apprehension may come from deep-seated beliefs rather than any immediate personal threat.

Cognition influences prejudice in a different way: it relies more on information than on emotion. Someone might notice an accurate fact - such as a higher representation of one group in the prison system - and then overgeneralize, incorrectly assuming that all members of that group share the same trait. This kind of thinking ignores important contextual factors, such as differences in policing and sentencing across groups, and can produce distorted, oversimplified conclusions about the group as a whole.

Stereotypes and stigmas

Often, prejudice begins with a stereotype - a specific belief or assumption about people based only on their group affiliation, not on their individual qualities. Stereotypes are broad generalizations applied to every member of a group. For instance, someone with prejudiced views toward older adults might assume all elderly people are slow and incompetent, even though many are active and intellectually sharp. Another common stereotype is that all people of Asian descent excel in mathematics, despite wide variation in mathematical ability.

Stigma is a mark of disapproval or shame attached to a characteristic, trait, condition, or behavior. This negative label can lead to discrimination, exclusion, or mistreatment by society, social groups, or individuals. Stigma can take several forms, including social stigma (societal attitudes toward groups defined by race, religion, or gender), health stigma (conditions such as mental illness, HIV/AIDS, or physical disabilities), and self-stigma (internalizing negative beliefs and feeling shame or worthlessness).

Culturally-focused forms of bias

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to judge another culture using one’s own cultural standards as the measure of what is right. A moderate level of cultural pride can strengthen community, but extreme ethnocentrism can lead to contempt for other cultures and contribute to misunderstanding, stereotyping, and conflict. This mindset can also shape institutional interventions that, even when well-intentioned, impose one set of cultural values on others by treating those cultures as inferior or in need of correction.

By contrast, cultural imperialism is the deliberate imposition of one culture’s values, beliefs, and practices on another. Historical examples include colonial expansions in the fifteenth century, when European powers conquered territories and attempted to reshape indigenous populations by introducing their own religious, social, and political practices. In modern contexts, cultural imperialism can appear when international aid organizations introduce agricultural methods or technologies from developed nations into regions where indigenous practices may be better suited.

The debate between ethnocentrism and cultural relativism focuses on how cultural differences should be evaluated. Cultural relativism means assessing a culture by its own standards rather than comparing it to another culture. This approach requires openness and a willingness to understand - and sometimes adopt - new values, norms, and practices without immediate judgment.

Self-fulfilling prophecy and stereotype threat

Several processes shape how stereotypes affect people. A self-fulfilling prophecy happens when a stereotype leads to expectations that change how we treat someone, and that treatment then increases the chance the person will behave in ways that confirm the stereotype. For example, research has shown that when teachers expect higher performance from certain students, those students often earn better grades than they would under lower expectations.

In contrast, stereotype threat occurs when people worry that their behavior might confirm negative stereotypes about their social group. That fear can create anxiety and stress, which can disrupt thinking, reduce performance, and strengthen the cycle of negative expectations.

Taken together - through grouping and comparison, the roles of emotion and cognition, stereotypes and stigma, ethnocentrism and cultural imperialism, and the self-fulfilling and threatening effects of stereotypes - prejudice can develop and continue to reproduce itself within society.