Personality and intergroup approaches to prejudice have barely integrated over fifty years

Evidence

Since Allport’s volume, two broad approaches to the study of prejudice have dominated social-psychological inquiry. One consists of the approach discussed here, which has seen prejudice as an attitude held by individuals that is determined by personality or other individual-difference factors. The other has seen prejudice as a group or intergroup phenomenon determined by intergroup dynamics and processes. Allport himself believed that different approaches and levels of analysis would need to be integrated into broader models for prejudice to be adequately understood. However, since the publication of his book there has been little connection or crossfertilization between these two major approaches, with each characterized by different theories, research interests, and strategies. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2491

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the levels-of-analysis divide in other fields (e.g., trait vs. situational approaches in personality psychology), and resonates with critiques of disciplinary fragmentation in social science.