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Intergroup Threat Theory: Minimal Group Paradigm

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Intergroup dynamics have been topic of interest to all psychologist. Minimal group paradigm (Tajfel, Billig, Bundy and Flament, 1971) is where intergroup dynamics are put to the test. Tajfel et al. found that in-groups and out-groups can form through the simple categorization or quick placement in randomly developed groups. That is allegiance and preferences, even within groups without distinct attributes/features can form rather quickly. Given that Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines religion is an organised system of beliefs, ceremonies and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods it is thereby unsurprising that religion is a particularly powerful and easily simulated group identity. It must also be noted that Intergroup Threat Theory …show more content…

Previous scholarly research have found that intergroup threat has a major effect on social attitudes and behaviors. Perceived threat promotes negative attitudes toward out-group members (Riek, Mania, Gaertner, 2006; Stephan, Renfro). For instance, American students perceived that immigrants posed a threat to both their morals and beliefs (symbolic threats) and their economic, and physical well-being (realistic threats), they responded with negative affect which included resentment, dislike and rejection (Stephan, et al., …show more content…

These attacks were predominantly directed towards Muslim towns and places of worship. This report shows evidence of Hindus prejudice toward Muslims. These religious hate crimes particularly towards Muslims highlight the in-group versus out-group phenomena found in Social Identity Theory. It should be noted that all religious crimes are not against Muslims as Muslims are also prejudiced to other religions. Spencer (2007) looked at this issue by focusing on Christians who live in Muslim societies, such as Northern Egypt. Christians are subject to pay special taxes, been threatened with kidnapped and death if headscarves were not worn and in some cases forced to pay protection money. Furthermore, Muslims prevent Christians from building or fixing churches while burning down existing ones. Spencer mentions that almost half of the Christians living in Iraq have

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The assigned reading for chapter 6, Testimony by Sonny Singh is a firsthand account of the author as he fell victim to the prejudice towards certain racial and ethnic groups that followed the events of September 11,2001. Sonny Singh belongs to an ethnic group called Sikhs which are very identifiable because of their appearances. Most Sikh men wear a turban and have beards. This is a religious requirement for them and they consider it a matter of faith and prestige. In this article, the author has mentioned various instances where he has faced prejudice by strangers even years after the 9/11 attack and how it affects his everyday life as an educator and musician.

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The Unfavorable Offspring of the Humanistic Tendency to Form Bonds In the article “It Takes a Tribe,” David Berreby utilizes the example of students’ immediate college loyalty to claim that humans identify with groups because they desire to have a sense of belonging. In the article “ ‘Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans,” Richard Rodriguez talks about categorization by race to claim that Americans, in particular, feel the need to be in separate, defined classes. Berreby and Rodriguez emphasize different effects of humans’ natural tendency to classify themselves. Berreby focuses on the formation of opposition between groups while Rodriguez focuses on the formation of false perceptions of groups.

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Stereotype threat is the fear of confirming a stereotype that has to do with your identity. In Steele’s book, he writes that these threats effect even the advantaged groups. He writes about a white student named Ted McDougal in an African American political science class with primarily black people in it. (85&86) This threat caused him to be hesitant with his thoughts and questions while also feeling excluded from the group.

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In 2003, a student in New Jersey was continuously called “Osama Bin Laden,” and was hit on the head, which resulted in contusions. A week after that, twelve-year-old Gurprit Kaur had three inches of her hair cut off from the bottom. She attended a public school in Flushing, Queens. Students have had to move schools, states, and even countries as a result of getting bullied and intimidated by their peers. Profiling of those who seem Muslim, Including Sikhs, is still frequent in the United States.

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Generalizing that a whole group is threatening can lead to

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Padilla's personal experiences seem to support the idea that Latino/a/e immigrants in the United States face significant stereotype threats. Stereotype threat refers to the idea that negative stereotypes about a particular group can have a detrimental impact on the performance, behavior, and mental health of individuals from that group. The negative stereotypes about Latino/a/e immigrants, including the idea that they are all "criminals" or "rapists," can create a hostile environment that affects their mental health and well-being. Furthermore, these stereotypes can limit opportunities for Latino/a/e immigrants, including access to education and

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Sometimes people blamed others, because they disliked them. In Today’s world, in the U.S., people feel a sort of discomfort being around Muslims, and Islamics. This commenced after 9/11 where groups of Muslims hijacked 3 planes and flew them into the Twin Towers in New York. This

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“9/11 changed America fundamentally, far more so than outsiders realized at the time. For Americans it genuinely was a new Pearl Harbour, an attack on the homeland that made them feel vulnerable for the first time in 60 years,” (Powell, 2003). The terrorist attacks of 9/11 affect America today because they instigated the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and the “War on Terror,” and led to an increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes. “Often referred to as 9/11, the attacks resulted in extensive death and destruction, triggering major U.S. initiatives to combat terrorism and defining the presidency of George W. Bush,” (9/11, 2010). The most noticeable of these effects was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security.

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Racial stereotyping is like giving a person a bad character from Star Wars to be, for example, Jar Jar Binks, and we can all agree that it sucks. But Asian Stereotypes are just the worst because if you’re Asian, you know it will feel like someone is making you Jabba the Hutt which feels pretty bad. Asian Stereotypes freaking suck you know why? Stereotype threat (or even racial stereotypes), a term coined by Stanford Professor Claude Steele, occurs when individuals whose group is targeted by negative stereotypes try to excel at tasks that are related to the stereotype. In these situations, simply knowing that there is a stereotype against them can lead individuals to actually perform more poorly on the task than they otherwise would.

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One law that affected immigrants was the immigration act of 1996 (Mandell & Schram, pg. 296). A second law that caused “panic in the immigrant community, was the personal responsibility act” (Mandell & Schram, pg. 296). California proposition 227 was intent on “eliminating bilingual education across the country” (Mandell & Schram, pg. 307). Proposition 209 was also another act that impacted affirmative action.

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In recent years, attitudes on immigration have been becoming more “warm,” so Fussell assesses different theories of prejudice to explain the contemporary shift in attitudes. Herbert Blumer’s theory of prejudice explains attitudes on immigrants as relative to an individual’s group position. The U.S. has a

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The mission of the American Immigration Council (AIC) is to “strengthen America by honoring our proud history as a nation of immigrants and shaping how America thinks about and acts towards immigrants and immigration” (“About the American Immigration Council”). The institutes mission expressed that there is a need for a change in the way the people of America is perceiving immigration. Also, it gives insight to those who forgot that America was shaped by immigrants. According to Discover the Networks, “the council seeks to shape a twenty-first century vision the American immigrant experience”.

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Muslims, along with Middle Eastern people, should not be discriminated against simply because of an incident involving people of the same ethnic and religious backgrounds. Jennifer Christensen, an expert on this topic, stated that “The problem is not religion, but how certain people misuse it. A small group of political leaders just happen to practice Islam have terrorized the world with their violence” (Christensen 6). Also, there is substantial evidence which shows how the police seem to be singling out Muslims by robbing them of their civil liberties. An uncovered story involving the New York Police Department relates to this.

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Antagonism can be defined as active hostility or opposition. India has a long tradition of religious tension. One of the most significant sustained religious conflicts has been between the Hindus and Muslims. This essay will focus on the causes of the Hindu-Muslim antagonism, and will at same time assess the quote of Sir S.A Khan. 1.

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