Why are there prejudice and discrimination? Why do people have prejudice and discrimination? And what should we do? (American Psychological Association, 2015)
As stated in Robert Feldman's Understanding Psychology:
- Stereotypes are generalized beliefs and expectations about a specific group and its members.
- Stereotyping can lead to prejudice and self fulfilling prophecies.
- Prejudice is the negative (or positive) evaluation of a particular group and its members.
- Stereotyping and prejudice can lead to discrimination, behavior directed toward individuals on the basis of their membership in a particular group.
There are prejudice and discrimination everywhere in the world, not only racism caused by the colors of skin, eyes and hair, but also bias caused by gender, sexual orientation, ages, religion, region, disease, different family backgrounds and so on. (American Psychological Association, 2019)
I don’t believe we had racial discrimination when we were born. Sometimes maybe racism becomes a political means when there are conflicts between the countries, even between the races. Then we may hear or see some bad news or reports about some kinds of people. Therefore, most people who are racists are affected by the news or the persons and culture around them. (American Psychological Association, 2020)
However racism is not politically correct. For example, it is ridiculous that lots of countries insisted the virus was made by China, and even called it “Chinese Virus” at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak even though the origin of the virus had not been confirmed. We must know all the people in the world are the same though we have different colors of skin and come from different places. And we need to have our own perspectives instead of being affected by the media. (American Psychological Association, 2019)
How can we reduce prejudice and discrimination? Among the ways of reducing prejudice and discrimination are increasing contact, demonstrating positive values against prejudice, and education.
- Increasing contact between the target of stereotyping and the holder of the stereotype.
- Making values and norms against prejudice more conspicuous.
- Providing information about the targets of stereotyping.
- Increasing the sense of social belonging of ethnic minority students.
According to observational learning approaches, children learn stereotyping and prejudice by observing the behavior of parents, other adults, and peers. Social identity theory suggests that group membership is used as a source of pride and self-worth, and this may lead people to think of their own group as better than others. (Feldman,2019)
Parents always play an important role in setting models for their children in educating them that everyone is the equal. Remember, being “not racist” just keeps things the way they are now. By being “anti-racist”, you can help lead our world to a brighter future. Hopefully, we can have a more peaceful world. (American Psychological Association, 1993)
___________________________________________First Memory
Thanks to this quiz I had a chance to sit at the desk and think of my childhood. When I retrieved the memories, the first thing that came up to my mind was the scene of the first day I went to kindergarten. I believe it was my earliest memory.
I went to kindergarten when I was three years old, it was a sunny day. The kindergarten is near my grandpa’s office, so my grandpa held my hands and took me to the kindergarten on his way to work.
I clearly remember that I had a grass green school bag and the silver zippers which looked like bones were very cute. I loved my green school bag so much!
I cannot remember how I felt that day, I just remember my grandpa was holding my hands, and I was carrying my favorite school bag as we were on the way to the kindergarten near my home.
I still keep my favorite school bag. When I saw this photo when I grew up, I knew that I was happy that day!