Prejudice’s psychological toll on targets is not universally damaging

Evidence

But whereas most theorists assumed that negative effects were universal, Allport instead argued for the basic human motivation to cope with, adapt to, and survive oppressive circumstances. Therefore his ideas about the effects of prejudice on its targets were a broad mixture of ego-defenses, strategic manipulations, and collective actions that preserved psychological and physical well-being. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1040

Categorization

• SEED: A mental-health/psychology essay angle: reframing discrimination studies from pathology-focused (self-hatred) to resilience-focused — ‘coping with oppression’ as a research tradition versus an individual-blame one.
• DEFINE: Distinguishes Allport’s resilience/coping model from the contemporaneous self-hatred hypothesis.