Allport reduced intergroup harm to individual animosity with no rational basis

Evidence

Allport made two key arguments about these behaviors. First, they were driven by animosity, and the extremity of the behavior was a direct indicator of the degree of hatred felt by the perpetrator. Second, he was emphatic that there was no rational or economic basis to these behaviors – even discrimination (which does bestow social and economic advantages on one’s own group) was motivated solely by irrationally founded, individually generated hatred for the target group. Although he acknowledged the role of “facilitating” factors in the social environment, their effect was to reinforce individual animosity and/or to release individuals from inhibitions about expressing their hatred. The most egregious examples of intergroup violence represented explosions of hatred too intense to be restrained by normal social inhibitions against aggressive behaviors. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 645

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely characterizes Allport’s two foundational axioms about prejudiced behavior—the animosity barometer and the irrationality claim—which the chapter then attacks.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 645