Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination

Abstract

The self-regulation model proposes that when unprejudiced people act in a prejudiced way, they search for and apply nonprejudiced responses. Taking an outgroup’s perspective can reduce stereotyping and prejudice toward that group. The contact hypothesis proposes that interacting with outgroup members reduces prejudice. Conditions for the success of intergroup contact include equal status, common goals, acquaintance potential, and institutional support. Positive, extended intergroup contact is more effective at reducing prejudice. Imagined contact can also be effective. The contact process has three stages: personalization, salient categorization, and common ingroup identity. The colorblind perspective, which holds that people should ignore others’ social group membership, has two components: color evasion, related to more prejudice, and equality orientation, related to less prejudice. The assimilationist perspective holds that minority groups should replace their culture with the dominant one; this can lead to prejudice against minority cultures. The multicultural perspective recognizes the value of both majority and minority groups’ perspectives and results in positive intergroup relations. Diversity initiatives are designed to improve the experiences and outcomes of disadvantaged groups. They are most effective in climates where diversity is normative and valued and least effective if they signal that disadvantaged group members are incompetent or cannot succeed without help.