People feel sympathy mainly for those they already like and care about

Evidence

A number of variables may influence one’s sympathy for a Muslim aside from fear, which is important to take into account when evaluating the incremental validity of the IS. Prejudice, which tends to consist of negative feelings, such as dislike and loathing toward a group (Plous, 2003), is expected to be inversely related to sympathetic feelings toward a Muslim person because individuals tend to be sympathetic toward those individuals for whom they care about and like (Batson, Eklund, Chermok, Hoyt, & Ortiz, 2007). — Sherman A. Lee, Chelsea A. Reid, Stephen D. Short, Jeffrey A. Gibbons, Ruth Yeh, and Matthew L. Campbell, Fear of Muslims, 117

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines prejudice as consisting of negative feelings such as dislike and loathing toward a group, distinguishing it from subtle measures like modern racism.