An Insight on prejudice towards out-groups

People seek connection, seek to develop a strong community, and as Abraham Maslow said the need to belong constitute a significant source of human motivation. This short piece of writing will describe not only how situational factors can influence a process such as acculturation. But also, Sherif's realistic conflict theory in order to explain the socialpsychological basis of human behaviour in the development of prejudice towards an outgroup.

Acculturation is a process where individuals adjust to the characteristics and rules of another culture, which guides them to psychological and cultural change (Berry, 2019). During this process, three are the main phases an individual/group faces. From a state of positive feelings towards the host culture, the individual goes through a culture shock which ends in adaption. Four are the paths identified by Berry, which can lead to acculturation: integration, assimilation, separation and marginalisation (Hogg & Vaughan, 2011).

Along with the phases individuals encounter during the process, the daily confrontation and interaction with the new environment lead to additional issues that cultural groups deal with to work out which strategy embrace. Cultural maintenance, the individual willingness to maintain his or her original culture in combination with his involvement with the host culture, also called contact and participation. For instance, when individuals consider significant to maintain their cultural heritage in the same way as the interaction and adoption of the new one, integration is the option. On the other hand, this strategy can only flourish in multicultural organisations, where the dominant society is open to cultural diversity. (Berry, 1997).

Berry describes these four paths as choosable, but the presence of an antagonistic host community might influence the individual towards the adoption of an alternative strategy (Hogg & Vaughan, 2011). Leaving aside the approach chosen, by voluntary and non-voluntary immigrants to adapt to a host culture, individuals from the outgroup may have to handle political and social exclusion. In the majority of developed societies, immigrants are described by mass media as a threat to the maintenance of national culture or blamed for economic difficulties that many countries are facing. These anti-immigrant campaigns could contribute to the development of hostile reactions against outgroups and associated problems, such as prejudice and conflicts (Phalet & Kosit 2016).

Nevertheless, the perceived strategy chosen from the outgroup can lead to an over-categorisation of it by the ingroup. Categorisation represents a process where an individual is recognised as a member of a specific group, sharing many characteristics within the group, and not anymore as a unique individual. Social psychology believes social categorisation to be one of the necessary factors for the development of prejudice, distorting these shared characteristics. (Smith & Mackie, 2007). One of the many studies carried out to support this idea involved three hundred and five students, of Italian origin, from the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, who participated in the study “Ethnic categorisation of immigrants: The role of prejudice, perceived acculturation strategies and group size”. The results demonstrate a significant correlation between perceived level of cultural maintenance and overcategorisation. Individuals who have high prejudice towards an outgroup tend to over categorise it more if they recognise the latter as reluctant to embrace the host culture. What is more, these phenomena lead to an increase of ethnic prejudice towards the outgroup, also perceived as a threat, especially in the case of large group size (Kosic & Phalet, 2006).

The social psychological phenomenon of prejudice involves people’s expressions of negative or hostile feelings towards members of a group and its modelled by the group they belong to and its historical heritage. There are different theories about the origins, and formation of prejudice, some as the Authoritarian personality theory, is focused on the predisposition of the individual’s personality to hold prejudiced attitudes, without taking into consideration the social context in the development of prejudice.

However, other theories are focus on social psychological processes associated with social categorisation phenomenon. These theories try to establish how social situational factors influence the development and expression of prejudice towards an outgroup. Sherif’s Realistic conflict theory explains how competition between groups, generated over scarce resources, leads to hostile conflicts due to the perception of the outgroup as a threat. What is more, to support his idea, Sherif conducted an experiment known as “Robbers Cave Experiment”. The latter involved two separate summer camps groups and three general procedures. Firstly, when children arrived at the camp, they were engaged with different activities resulting in the formation of a group, based on strong bond and friendship. Secondly, these two separate groups competed in various contests, during this phase hostility arisen with the development, for instance, of stereotypes. Finally, the two groups engaged with cooperative tasks on the based of subordinative goals, as a consequence of cooperation, Sherif, noticed a gradual improvement in intergroup interaction (Hogg & Vaughan, 2011).

The results obtained by this experiment could explain how the strategy chosen by immigrants during the acculturation process is not always voluntary. Media and politicians may use competitive situations over scarce resources to manipulate the ingroup behaviour, and consequently, the latter generates hostile conflicts towards the outgroup. However, such explanations tend to overlook the fact that the twentytwo boys who participated in the study were all coming from a white middle-class background, engendering a problem of generalisation to a broader population. Besides, Sherif used a sample unable to represent young Americans back then, and most certainly not of America today, where whites constitute just 50% of all students (Brain, 2000).

In conclusion, Social psychology explains the process of acculturation not only on the analysis of the individual but also by his/her interaction with the host group culture. The latter, if hostile, can obstacle the process influencing the “choosable” acculturation strategy. Furthermore, the realistic conflict theory may explain the development of prejudice and the hostility generated between two groups based on competitive situations created over scarce resources. However, as we have seen in Sherif’experiment, when the two groups in conflict engaged in cooperative tasks, prejudice decreased. Social psychology and its study of the social context do not imply just an understanding of different phenomena with the analysis of human interactions. But it also emphasizes a possible resolution of social conflicts through the study of these interactions

Reference list

Berry, J. (2019). Acculturation: A Personal Journey across Cultures. Cambridge University Press. Brain, C. (2000). Advanced Subsidiary Psychology: Approaches and Methods. Nelson Thornes Ltd.

Hogg, M., & Vaughan, G. (2017). Social Psychology (6th edition). Essex: Pearson Education Limited

John W. Berry (1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaption. 46, (1), 5-34. https://content.talisaspire.com/londonmet/bundles/5e67aea40cb4c305d1204024

Kosic, A., & Phalet, K. (2006). Ethnic categorization of immigrants: The role of prejudice, perceived acculturation strategies and group size. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 30, (6), 769-782. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2006.06.003.

Phalet, K. & Kosic, A. (2006). Acculturation in European societies. In D. Sam, & J. Berry (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Acculturation Psychology (pp. 331-348). Cambridge University Press.

Smith R. E., & Mackie, M. D. (2007). Social psychology (3rd edition). New York: Psychology Press.