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Showing posts with the label social psychology

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Intergroup Hostility: A Structured Overview

Prejudice, Stereotypes, and Intergroup Hostility: A Structured Overview Introduction Prejudice, stereotypes, and intergroup hostility are interrelated concepts that can have a significant impact on social relationships and attitudes between different groups of people. This article will provide a structured overview of these concepts and examine how they are related. Prejudice Prejudice refers to an unjustified negative attitude toward an individual or group based on their membership in a particular social category, such as race, ethnicity, or religion. Prejudice can take many forms, including racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. It is important to note that prejudice is not the same as discrimination, which refers to the unequal treatment of individuals or groups based on prejudice. Stereotypes Stereotypes are oversimplified generalizations about individuals or groups that are made without considering each individual's unique qualities and characteristics. Stereotypes are of

Intergroup Behaviour

Intergroup Behaviour Introduction Intergroup behaviour refers to how individuals or groups of people interact with and relate to one another based on their membership in different social categories such as race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, or religion. This field of study has long been of interest to social psychologists as intergroup behaviour has the potential to lead to both cooperation and conflict. Social Identity Theory One of the most well-known theories of intergroup behaviour is Social Identity Theory, which was first proposed by Henri Tajfel and John Turner in the 1970s. According to this theory, individuals derive a sense of self from their membership in social categories or "ingroups." Social identity theory suggests that individuals are motivated to enhance the positive image of their ingroups, leading them to act in ways that benefit their ingroups, while negatively evaluating "outgroups" that do not belong to their ingroup. This can result in inte

Attitudes: Components and Measurement by Thurstone, Likert and Semantic Differential Scales

Attitudes: Components and Measurement by Thurstone, Likert and Semantic Differential Scales Introduction Attitudes are complex psychological constructs that reflect an individual's positive or negative feelings, beliefs, and evaluations about a particular object, person, or event. Attitudes are crucial in shaping behaviour and influencing information processing and decision-making. To better understand attitudes, researchers have developed various frameworks and measurement tools to assess them. Components and Measurement by Thurstone One of the earliest frameworks for understanding attitudes was developed by Louis Thurstone, who identified seven primary attitudes that individuals hold: pleasure, displeasure, approval, disapproval, favourable, unfavourable, and neutral attitude. According to Thurstone, attitudes can be measured by determining the strength of an individual's feelings towards an object or event, with stronger attitudes indicating more intense feelings and evaluat