question_answer

What are the causes/sources of emergence of prejudice? Give example.

Answer:

Ans.     Prejudice are learnt. Following are the probable causes for the development of prejudices:

1. Learning: Prejudices are learnt through associations, reward and punishment, modelling, child-rearing practices and social and cultural norms.

2. High Social Identity: Social identity refers to persons definitions of who he or she is. If the individual starts identifying with his community and develops proud for that gradually, he starts perceiving others as inferior which causes prejudices.

3. Scapegoating: It is aggression displaced toward a person or group that is the object of prejudice particularly the individual or the group belongs to weaker section.

4. Self-fulfilling Prophecy: Self-fulfilling prophecy refers to behaving in a way that confirms the prediction others make.

It is behaving according to once own expectation in such a way that this behavior influences a situation and brings about what is expected.

5. Kernel of Truth: It is individual beliefs that if a particular opinion developed by so many people then there must be truth behind it because majority can’t be wrong.