Prejudice and Stereotypes Essay

Everyone has dealt with being set as an outcast at what invariably point in their lives. Everyone has had an incident when we have been treated unfairly. Discrimination because of prejudice and stereotyping is one of the main problems that we must face in an ethnically and culture diverse world. Considering these beliefs and the means behind these actions may essentially helper us be a step closer to resolving this genial injustice. Prejudice involves a negative attitude toward individuals based on their membership in a particular group, (Feenstra, J.(2011).Prejudice takes place when a person has negative views about individual even if they do not have the carry through background on the individual or group of wad. Prejudice is mostly caused by a particular stereotype made about a person or group. A stereotype is a fixed, over generalized belief about a particular group or class of people (Cardwell, 1996). batch make stereotypes by making generalizations such(prenominal) as females should only cook, clean and raise children. Or all Americans t ar greedy, or all African Americans steal.Discrimination refers to the treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit( uslegal,2012).? An ingroup is a group to which someone belongs, and an outgroup is a group to which the person does not belong (hence, one persons ingroup may be another persons outgroup, and unrighteousness versa), (Linville, 1998). On a personal level, I can relate to being placed in a stereotype. I can remember a sentence where I went to get my car fixed at a particular car shop.I could actually tell I was being treated antithetic because I am a female. I think because they figured I was a woman I would not know about cars so the operative told me things were wrong with my car that were not actually wrong with it. I can also say I have discriminated against a certain group specially after 911. I would be scared to ride a plane if I saw someone from the Muslim community aboard the plane which I can see now it was a totally false accusation of mine. I had to realize just because there was one bad apple that unflinching to do such a horrific act everyone in that community was not that way.Society confirms prejudicial attitudes by focusing on personal differences such as ones nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation or their beliefs such as religion. Society seems to confirm it because people really dont do anything to stop it. It seems that some prejudices are highly accepted in society. Individuals in society seem to accept some prejudices as opposed to being a team with your dude neighbor, friend or coworker. Ones social identity contributes to prejudice based on the awareness of inadequate social control.Ones social identity contributes to prejudice because people in todays society seem to have their own set of stereo types against other races, nationalities and genders. Some people associate certain actions or characteristics to a particular group. An example may be some people may think a woman should ever has a job as a mechanic and that should only be a mans job, or think that a womans place is at home cooking , cleaning and raising the children. Another stereo type may be that all people from Iraq are ferocious and hate Americans.The more you have faith in that you can influence your surroundings or social status, the less of an influence social identity plays. Emotions come on prejudicial attitudes because the majority of the time individuals make decisions from their emotions. The cognitive processes influence prejudice because cognitive thinking is the mental result of ones opinion, learning and argumentation process. Discrimination is very prevalent, there are ways to improve our feelings, judgments and behaviors so that we are more accepting of individuals whom we v iew to be diverse from us.There are laws against discrimination such as the Federal touch Employment Opportunity (EEO) Laws. These laws prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which protects men and women who perform substantially equal work in the same establishment from sex-based wage discrimination the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which protects individuals who are 40 years of age or old, (www.eeoc. gov, 2009) Differences leave alone always be around but it will be our outlooks and behaviors concerning these issues that will make a difference. I think the way to beat discrimination if everyone were to just open their minds and get to know one another as their equal.