The Role of Psychology in Eliminating Hate, Prejudice, and Discrimination

The concept of hate, prejudice, and discrimination has, for several decades, plagued the societies. According to Tausch & Hewstone (2010), prejudice is the act of negative and unfavorable acts or attitudes towards a particular group of individuals based on less factual, incorrect, and insufficient information about the individual or group to whom it is intended. Discrimination refers to the actions or behaviors that are directed towards a given group of individuals. In a broader sense, discrimination is the actual action that expresses the prejudicial attitude towards the identified group or individual. This short essay will attempt to assess the part psychology plays in reducing hate, prejudice, and discrimination.

Keen (2012) points out that no particular society or nation is immune to acts of discrimination and prejudice either as a victimizer or the victim. These acts date back to the colonial periods, which led to the isolation of various groups of people and societies. It is also imperative that to overcome the adversities caused by prejudice and discrimination, one needs to understand the effects of these vices on the individual victim and the society as a whole. Both prejudice and discrimination have colossal effects in the emotional, motivational, political, psychological, and economic domains. These gross effects, whether intentional or otherwise, are compounded by such results as political disempowerment, loss of self-worth, sense of self-alienation from the society and political inequalities in the public domain (Sritharan & Gawronski, 2010). Victims of prejudice and discrimination often react in various ways. Some individuals succumb to the sense of withdrawal and depression, while others fight it back to the stereotypes. Those who will be motivated will be able to achieve goals and also increase the amount of effort and energy in their activities. Motivation will determine whether they purse the task in full, thus improving in life. Those who suffer from an emotional loss might suffer from low motivation hence low morale in pursuing their goals or even give up. Those individuals who fail to succumb to the acts always take advantage of the negativity of the stereotypes and use them as motivating factors to change the perception of the perpetrators. This is a clear indication of how emotion and motivation could influence an individual's behavior.

Both the social biases prejudice and discrimination have considerable adverse effects on the societal wellbeing and often thwart the mutual coexistence of various communities with varied cultural differences. Often, a group or individuals who have the perception that they are mistreated or are negatively judged based on the perceptions face challenges in exploiting their full potential in various aspects of life. As noted by Keen (2012), when a particular society is subjected to a form of prejudicial act or untruthful beliefs, that specific community may experience an enormous adverse effect on the human rights, freedoms, and fair treatments, especially in social amenities. Due to this, such individuals facing prejudice and discrimination often tend to limit themselves from gaining new experiences that could advance their growth based on the already preformed opinions by their group members. This is according to the research done by Asch and Milgram, as will be shown later in the essay.

Fiske (2010) asserts the fact that the presence of prejudice and discrimination often contribute to the dilution of peace and mutual coexistence within a community and in the entire nation. The consequence of such distortion of societal morality and well-being has led to the desire to find a leverage point of freeing individuals from the pangs of prejudice and discrimination. There are various ways through which the effects of prejudice and discrimination can be minimized or eliminated from the societies.

What is the source of these prejudice acts and discrimination? Having a better understanding of Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory can be used in understanding these social psychology issues. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a humanistic approach to understanding human satisfaction. Physiological needs are at the base of the hierarchy, so they are considered the most important in terms of human survival. These needs are for food and water, followed by safety, love, belongingness before hunger and thirst are satisfied. When one feels they belong in society, they can then move on to achieving self-esteem, the second to last tier in the hierarchy. Achieving a high level in esteem means that one is confident in themselves and their actions. However, Maslow believes that many people stop moving up the hierarchy after achieving a high level of esteem, holding them back from the final level: Self-actualization. Self-actualization is essentially the motivation to develop one's full potential as a human being, however, the concept is complex and challenging to reach. Numerous psychologists have articulated that some of the prejudice and discrimination acts are caused by failing to reach self-actualization. Therefore, by using a particular group as a scapegoat, anxiety, and uncertainty direct complex issues to unimaginable cause such as the minority. Therefore through despising a specific group of people, in this case, minorities, people can enhance their sense of self‐worth and importance.

When faced with prejudice and discrimination in society, most individuals are often afraid to fight the adversities. Sritharan & Gawronski (2010) argued that the absolute defense against any form of ignorance is the acquisition of knowledge. However, as the research from Asch, Milgram, these might not be the case. According to the study from Asch and Milgram, people might ignore the knowledge they have to conform to group pressure to avoid isolation and probably gain compliance in society. In an experiment conducted by Solomon Asch, the pressure toward group conformity can make an individual view the truth as wrong. On the other hand, the experiment conducted by Milgram shows that people are willing to go against their conscious notion of what is right, to satisfy someone in authority. These two theories show the extent individuals are eager to show compliance in society.

In summary, as noted from the discussion, social biases have significant effects on individuals, the perpetrators, and the entire society. Hence, to overcome discrimination and prejudice, every individual should play his/her part in finding facts for their treatment and not basing their arguments on false publicity. From the discussion, it is noted that emotion and motivation influence behavior and Maslow's hierarchy of needs be used in understanding social psychology

References

1. Fiske, S. (2018). Social Beings (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.
2. Keene, S. (2012) Social Bias: Prejudice, Stereotyping, and Discrimination, Journal of Law Enforcement, 1(3), 1-5
3. Sritharan, R., & Gawronski, B. (2010). Changing Implicit and Explicit Prejudice. Social Psychology, 41(3), 113-123. doi: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000017
4. Strangor, C., Jhangiani, R., & Tarry, H. (2015). Principles of Social Psychology (1st ed.). University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing.
5. Tausch, N., & Hewstone, M. (2010). Social Dominance Orientation Attenuates Stereotype Change in the Face of Disconfirming Information. Social Psychology, 41(3), 169-176. doi: 10.1027/1864-9335/a000024