Allport saw prejudice as ordinary yet unacceptable, creating inner conflict

Evidence

Many chapters in Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice leave readers with the impression that prejudice is rather commonplace and essentially guaranteed by virtue of both how the mind works and how society is structured. For example, early chapters revealed prejudgment and categorical thinking to be ordinary, if not necessary, cognitive processes. In still other chapters, prejudice was observed to be woven into the fabric of society and individual learning histories, if not the fundamental structure of personality. Ordinary and normal, however, do not imply acceptable – and this fact is the starting point for Allport’s analysis of what he referred to as inner con- flict. To the extent that one views prejudice as deplorable, these ordinary processes can lead to troubling intrapsychic outcomes. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2080

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘breaking the habit’ framing connects to Graybiel’s habit-formation neuroscience work and to the idea that moral self-image drives behavior change.