Prejudice

Prejudice[1] is an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived, usually unfavourable, evaluation of another person based on that person’s political affiliationsexgenderbeliefsvaluessocial classagedisabilityreligionsexualityrace/ethnicitylanguagenationalitybeautyoccupationeducationcriminalitysport team affiliation or other personal characteristics.[2]

Prejudice can also refer to unfounded or pigeonholed beliefs[3][4] and it may include “any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence”.[5] Gordon Allport defined prejudice as a “feeling, favorable or unfavorable, toward a person or thing, prior to, or not based on, actual experience”.[6] Auestad (2015) defines prejudice as characterized by ‘symbolic transfer’, transfer of a value-laden meaning content onto a socially formed category and then on to individuals who are taken to belong to that category, resistance to change, and overgeneralization.[7]

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