Allport framed prejudice as a byproduct of normally functional cognition

Evidence

As the title of chapter 2 in The Nature of Prejudice, “The Normality of Prejudgment,” proclaims, Allport understood prejudice and discrimination as byproducts of cognitive mechanisms that are typically functional in everyday life (e.g., categorization). His insights led directly to the socialcognitive revolution that continues to make an enormous contribution to the study of prejudice. Still, he wrestled with psychodynamic themes that permeated the field in his day, including the notion that people are instinctually destructive. He was openly critical of the tautology of this approach, noting that “widespread conflict does not mean in itself that instinct underlies it” (p. 214). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 143

Allport (1954/1979) argued that prejudice can be entirely normal. He also recognized that prejudice can be irrational. But his contentions in chapter 2 (“The Normality of Prejudgment”) effectively undermined the intuitive view that prejudice is solely the product of sick motives and anticipated psychology’s cognitive revolution by analyzing prejudice as a product of normal categorization processes, merely applied to people. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 282

Allport understood prejudice and discrimination as byproducts of cognitive mechanisms that are typically functional in everyday life (e.g., categorization). His insights led directly to the socialcognitive revolution that continues to make an enormous contribution to the study of prejudice. … Still, he wrestled with psychodynamic themes that permeated the field in his day, including the notion that people are instinctually destructive. He was openly critical of the tautology of this approach, noting that “widespread conflict does not mean in itself that instinct underlies it” (p. 214). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 143

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces Allport’s core framework: prejudice arises from ordinary categorization mechanisms, not pathology.
• DEEPTHINKING: The conceptual move of locating prejudice in normal cognition rather than instinctual defect is foundational to the entire social-cognitive study of prejudice.
• XREF: This is the canonical origin point for the entire implicit-bias and social-cognition literature; connects to Kahneman’s System 1 thinking and dual-process models. — connects to: Allport defined stereotypes as cognitive profile construction under data scarcity — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1316
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 143; John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 282; , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 143