The Human Nature of Prejudice
Tevarious Jones
Karen Putman
Social Psychology and Human Nature
Prejudice
21 December 2012
Prejudice
Many people in society today have the mindset that being prejudice is wrong, especially as it relates to skin color and ethnicity. Social Psychology and Human Nature book describes prejudice as “an act of a wicked culture” (Roy F. Baumeister, Brad J. Bushman p.402). Jim Cole’s description is:
“Prejudices will be dealt with here as a single set of dynamics that function to dehumanize people who are identifiably different in some way from the people whose perceptions are limited by the dysfunction we call prejudice (Cole p1 ¶2).”
This means that there dysfunctions in childhood structure and it has limited the person take on the world because of a certain disbelief. If taught wrong, you become more prejudice at the more dislike you see in your life growing up because these are your own perceptions on the society. However, being prejudice makes since because it is an acquired behavior. Prejudice does not always mean a person disliking or “hating” another person, or disliking someone because of their favorite color, height or weight, religious beliefs, etc. Most often times, people do not take notice that prejudice is happening to them until it is about race. If a person has a problem with someone else because they are not the same; different is seemingly fine. We all have problems, problems that can be solved with rehabilitation, some with great medicines and treatments, and others with just life. Some of our problems come from our past childhood. The way we are living and the choices we make could cause a problem; no matter what the situation is we face problems every day. Prejudice is what kind of problem we need to be aware of: socially, mentally, physically, and or most cases, for example, Dennis Rodman’s, psychologically. The problem arises when prejudice is carried out in aggression or when it is used to make people feel uncomfortable. As children,
Karen Putman
Social Psychology and Human Nature
Prejudice
21 December 2012
Prejudice
Many people in society today have the mindset that being prejudice is wrong, especially as it relates to skin color and ethnicity. Social Psychology and Human Nature book describes prejudice as “an act of a wicked culture” (Roy F. Baumeister, Brad J. Bushman p.402). Jim Cole’s description is:
“Prejudices will be dealt with here as a single set of dynamics that function to dehumanize people who are identifiably different in some way from the people whose perceptions are limited by the dysfunction we call prejudice (Cole p1 ¶2).”
This means that there dysfunctions in childhood structure and it has limited the person take on the world because of a certain disbelief. If taught wrong, you become more prejudice at the more dislike you see in your life growing up because these are your own perceptions on the society. However, being prejudice makes since because it is an acquired behavior. Prejudice does not always mean a person disliking or “hating” another person, or disliking someone because of their favorite color, height or weight, religious beliefs, etc. Most often times, people do not take notice that prejudice is happening to them until it is about race. If a person has a problem with someone else because they are not the same; different is seemingly fine. We all have problems, problems that can be solved with rehabilitation, some with great medicines and treatments, and others with just life. Some of our problems come from our past childhood. The way we are living and the choices we make could cause a problem; no matter what the situation is we face problems every day. Prejudice is what kind of problem we need to be aware of: socially, mentally, physically, and or most cases, for example, Dennis Rodman’s, psychologically. The problem arises when prejudice is carried out in aggression or when it is used to make people feel uncomfortable. As children,
Cited: Baumeister, Roy F., and Brad J. Bushman. "Social Psychology and Human Nature." Second Edtion. Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2011. Web. 19 Dec. 2012. Culture & Society. "How to Overcome Prejudice." EHow. Demand Media, 18 Sept. 2007. Web. 10 Dec. 2012. Cole, Jim. "Understanding Prejudice." Beyond Prejudice, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2012. Rodman, D. (2012). Dennis rodman official page. Retrieved from http://www.dennisrodman.com/main DeVoe, Jill, Christina Murphy, and (ED) National Center for Education Statistics. "Student Reports of Bullying and Cyber-Bullying: Results from the 2009 School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey. Web Tables. NCES 2011-336." National Center for Education Statistics (2011): ERIC. EBSCO. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. "New International Version." Ephesians 2:14. Trans.The Bible, n.d. Web. 19 Dec. 2012. Schamotta, Justin. "The Development of Prejudice." EHow. Demand Media, 06 June 2011. Web. 18 Dec. 2012. Shook, Natalie J., and Russell H. Fazio. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2008. Web. 14 Dec. 2012.