Social Psychology - Prejudice - Essay Example

Finally, this paper shall also suggest ways in order to remedy this issue or situation. Social psychologists have attempted to explain prejudice by using various theories. One of the main theories they have used is the theory of innate tendency. This theory basically explains that people are borne with the innate quality of gravitating or liking people who are like them and of disliking or hating other people who are not like him (Sharma & Sharma, 1997). Through the theory of self-love, social psychologists explain how people tend to love themselves.

Therefore people are often disgusted by other people who are different from them (Sharma & Sharma, 1997). Social psychologists also point out that the ethnocentric theory is all about the belief that one’s group is moral, right, and rational – and that other cultures are inferior (Sociology Index, 2009). In judging other cultures or beliefs, these individuals tend to base their judgments on their standards – without attempting to understand the perspectives of their members. In yet another theory, the psycho-analytic theory “considers human experience to be root cause of prejudice” (Sharma & Sharma, 1997.

The experiences which reflect favorable outcomes affect the person’s behavior in relation to similar future experiences. Unfavorable experiences also manifest and affect the overall behavior of a person in relation to similar future experiences (Sharma & Sharma, 1997). Prejudices in interracial experiences in Singapore affect the occurrence and prevalence of interracial marriages. This interracial prejudice has affected them to a point where marriages between ethnic lines has not happened often (Country Data, 1989).

From 1954 to 1984, rates of marriages between ethnic divides occurred at 5 to 6 percent of all marriages (Country Data, 1989). In considering the innate tendency theory, the