Conformity and implicit home learning are the most powerful sources of prejudice.

Evidence

Allport viewed conformity as second only to learning as the mechanism by which attitudes are acquired. Children become aware of family and then peer and societal norms (i.e., implicit rules for how people in the group think and act) and, as a result of identification with these groups and the desire for approval, children conform. They also learn social stereotypes (e.g., for class and race). This was Allport’s only attempt to introduce the society-wide racial caste system which provides easy solutions to those who need to categorize, project, and raise their self-esteem at others’ expense. Allport felt that conformity was the likely mechanism when parents passed on prejudices without consciously intending to, because children imitate parents in order to be like them. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1979

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines norms as implicit group rules for thinking and acting.
• XREF: Connects to social-identity and self-esteem approaches to prejudice, e.g. Tajfel, and to the caste-system function of racial hierarchy.