Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination

In a social setting, people may interact with others based on their most distinctive attribute, such as age, gender, or race. As a result, one can quickly evaluate another person as a whole—as a construct of the group categorization.

However, this process can result in unfavorable biases. One kind, stereotypes, are mental beliefs that are overgeneralized to the group. For example, older adults are believed to be weaker and less competent than younger adults.

Harboring a stereotype about a group can lead to prejudice—an unjustifiable attitude towards someone based on their membership in the group. By internalizing negative stereotypes about older adults, a person may immediately dislike their new, older neighbor even before getting to know them.

In many cases, an individual may not be consciously aware of their prejudices. Instead they make automatic negative associations, which can be demonstrated through the Implicit Association Test. This computer task measures how fast someone relates members of a group with either positive or negative images and words.

For instance, during one block of trials, the participant may see an image of either a young or old face. With their fingers on the “E” and “I” keys, they are asked to classify, as quickly and accurately as possible, the image into either the left or right category.

In another block of trials, the combinations are reversed: Now bad/young and good/old are paired together as the images appear.

If participants sort faster during good/young compared to the good/old trials, they may have an unconscious prejudice toward older adults, as slower responses are interpreted to reflect more difficult associations.

Since people tend to feel such bias towards a group that they are unfamiliar with, they can reduce their negative attitudes by forming relationships with people from different groups.

Otherwise, prejudice—both conscious and unconscious—can fuel discrimination—a negative action toward a group and its members.

For example, even if both candidates are equally qualified for a job, an employer may decide to hire the younger applicant over an older one solely based on their age. This case is a form of ageist discrimination.

While certain forms of prejudice and discrimination are culturally acceptable and continue to persist, a majority can choose to identify others for the content of their character rather than labeling them by their outer cover.