Social Biases Paper - Essay Example

Prejudicial attitudes are dangerous because these are based on mere beliefs or impressions which can be very far from the truth. It can lead to wrong assumptions and then lead further into erroneous actions or judgment on someone who may fit a certain stereotype. Some of the ways to avoid prejudice is to keep an open mind and see a person for what he or she is and dispose of the preconceived notions one may have against another individual. Another is to have adequate and open channels of communication to prevent prejudice from taking more sinister forms such as an action that is discriminatory or exclusionary which is what happens if a person has the wrong or incomplete information to make an informed and wise decision.

Biases are dangerous traits because it prevents rational arguments from influencing a rigid outlook or viewpoint from being changed and corrected. A biased person therefore can be said to have a warped mind and precludes an impartial judgment on any matter being discussed. Most of biased persons end up as bigots who are inflexibly intolerant of other people and their opinions; it can lead to conflicts from an irrational fear, hatred or suspicion of a particular group. Discussion Prejudice pertains to the attitudes of a person towards a particular group that is not totally correct because these are based on incomplete or wrong information.

Prejudice can be thought of as a form of latent discrimination because there is as yet no actual action taken by that person to express or externalize those distorted attitudes, values and beliefs. Prejudice can vary in intensity or mode of expression but all its forms exhibit a negative sentiment towards a certain group or to an individual belonging to that group (Brown, 2010, p. 35). Although not outwardly manifested, prejudice has serious consequences for any society because of its adverse impact on any target.

On the other hand, stereotyping of people is putting them into “neat” categories which are often mistaken because these are based on the wrong beliefs, or in short, a prejudiced viewpoint. A stereotype is an over-simplified conception, notion, representation or image that conforms to a particular set of characteristics of a group of people but disregards any individual traits. It is very damaging to a person because that particular person may not have the same group features. It is a bad to stereotype someone because it imputes negative attributes (Zanna & Olson, 1994, p. 1). A person who classifies people because of unique characteristics is guilty of stereotyping.

Lastly, discrimination is the overt manifestation of prejudice and stereotyping. It is external and expressed through actions which are favorable to one group and injurious to another group. Discrimination results from the prejudices of a person who then makes a distinction between the stereotypes of a certain group to which an individual belongs and makes a decision based on the group's features or characteristics and no longer on the individual merits of a person. Different Kinds of Biases – the subtle bias is often unconsciously practiced by the person.

It means he or she is even not aware of the inherent bias. More distressingly, a subtle bias is very hard to detect by the persons