Chapter 13 Written Assignment
Chapter 13 Written Assignment

1. What role do you think the media plays in the development of prejudicial attitudes and beliefs in young children? What other factors do you feel are significant in shaping these attitudes?

2. Provide a personal example of

(a) a situation in which you were the target of a prejudicial statement or a discriminatory action based on your race, sex, religion, socio-economic status, or other group membership. Detail what happened and how you felt at the time. Did that experience make you more or less likely to approach that person again? Or per perhaps another person from that person’s group?

(b) a situation in which you formed a stereotype of a person based solely on his/her physical appearance

(c) an event in which you were pressured by your “in-group” to perform a prejudiced act.

3. Think about a time when you were present when someone said something racist, sexist, or otherwise prejudiced, but you did not speak up. Why was it hard for you to speak up even though you did not agree with what was being said? What conditions made it difficult in that situation? What social psychological principles were at work? (For example, normative conformity discussed in Ch.13, bystander effect, etc.)