Status and esteem needs drive prejudice as psychological protection

Evidence

Allport proposed two polar opposites: a personality chronically disposed to generalized prejudice versus one disposed to generalized tolerance. The prejudiced personality, which like Adorno et al. (1950) he also referred to as the “authoritarian personality,” was someone for whom prejudice was psychologically functional and a direct response to deep-rooted underlying needs in the personality. At the core of this prejudiced personality were a set of traits Allport summed up as “ego weakness” – insecurity, fearfulness, anxiety and an inability to cope effectively with one’s own inner tensions, conflicts, and anxieties, or with uncertainty, threat, change, and ambiguity in the external world. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2429 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

As defined by Allport (1954/1979), psychodynamic theories of prejudice emphasized internal motivational variables, especially those involving “unconscious mental operation in the individual” (p. 352). Psychodynamic theories, he said, could explain how a person might not be “aware of the psychological function that prejudice serves in his life,” so that when he explained his reasons for feeling hostility towards outgroups, those explanations would be “merely rationalizations” (p. 352). In short, psychodynamic theories emphasize that prejudice can be a byproduct of people’s attempts to feel good about themselves, and more generally, to avoid threatening thoughts. A core assumption is that sometimes what one hates about other groups of people is related to the things that one hates about oneself. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2341 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Prejudice can serve unconscious self-esteem needs people rationalize away — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2341; Prejudice is public harm to esteem, not merely private attitude — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice: Society,…, 744; Prejudice functions as a psychological crutch providing reassurance, guidance, and confidence — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 122 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Prejudice functions psychologically as a response to ego weakness and inner threat #corroborates (0.95) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2429
• Prejudice can serve unconscious self-esteem needs people rationalize away #expands (0.92) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2341
• Prejudice operates by stripping social esteem and moral standing from target groups #complicates (0.76)
• Prejudice is public harm to esteem, not merely private attitude #complicates (0.74) — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 744