Perceived justifiability of prejudice tracks cultural norms, not objective warrant

Evidence

Because what is acceptable and normal in one context may be unacceptable in another, it is important to untangle the psychological process of negative feelings toward a person or group (prejudice) from whether or not these feelings are generally sanctioned (social norms). Many researchers define prejudice as unjustified negative attitudes toward social groups or their members. Similarly, Allport (1954/1979) defined prejudice as “thinking ill of others without sufficient warrant,” and ethnic prejudice as “an antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization” (p. 9; see also Eagly & Diekman, ch. 2 this volume). The problem is that what is commonly perceived to be “justified” or “warranted” depends primarily on the cultural rules about the acceptability of prejudice (see Crandall & Martinez, 1996). In practice, “justifiable” is a very flexible, norm-sensitive standard (Crandall & Eshleman, 2003). What appears justified to some people does not to others. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1903 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Crandall et al. (2002) had college students indicate the prevailing social norms of the acceptability of prejudice toward 105 different social groups. Students agreed that some prejudices were acceptable (e.g., rapists, child molesters, drug dealers, thieves) and others (e.g., African Americans, blind people, Jews, Canadians) were not. A second group of college students’ ratings of how they, personally, felt about the same groups showed a near perfect relationship between the social norm ratings and people’s personal prejudices toward the 105 groups, r = 0.96. Thus, people’s reports of their own prejudices were an almost perfect reflection of norms designating which prejudices are appropriate or inappropriate. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1902 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Prejudiced people are normal because they are well adapted to their culture. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1834; Greater prejudice predicts lower collective guilt via justifiability construals — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 453; Regional and national racial attitude differences stem from norms, not personality (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Whether prejudice counts as justified depends on local cultural norms. #corroborates (0.95) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1903
• Personal prejudice toward groups tracks perceived social norms almost exactly #corroborates (0.92) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1902