Prejudice conformity is normal, adaptive, and learned from local norms

Evidence

There are three important themes that emerge in this chapter. First, that conformity is normal, not an abnormal personality weakness. Like any other belief, attitude, and behavior, we learn how to feel about others and social groups from our family, our peers, and our culture. Having attitudes and beliefs that are very different from our friends is uncomfortable, and we are likely to change them to fit our friends, or change our friends to fit our beliefs. To desire to fit in is normal, natural, and leads to highly adaptive social behavior. Second, norms operate on a societal level; norms change over time and different “subcultures” create different local norms that can make competing demands on individuals when they cross those subcultures. When people make major life transitions, whether at school or at work, when they become married, parents, or empty-nesters, when they move to a new neighborhood, area, or country, the norms about what attitudes are proper are likely to change, and adapting to these new norms is a significant challenge of everyday life. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1936

Categorization

• XREF: Reinforces and updates Allport’s conformity-as-source-of-prejudice claim, the core of this vault thread; connects to the reader’s reading purpose of corroborating contact-theory/prejudice claims.