5.2 Conditioning Principles Applied to Prejudice

An important real-world application of learning principles is understanding how people develop biased and prejudicial attitudes, as well as how they learn to engage in discriminatory behaviors. Prejudicial attitudes (which are cognitions or thoughts) are often acquired through caregiver transmission via the process of classical conditioning. For example, let’s say John’s parent has racist attitudes toward an outgroup (i.e., people of a different race). Imagine John’s parent holding him as a young infant and encountering an outgroup member walking down the street. If they held prejudicial attitudes toward the outgroup member, they likely distrusted the outgroup member and felt negative emotions, such as fear, disgust, and anxiety. As a result, John’s parent likely tensed up while holding him, had an elevated heart rate, and exhibited other behavioral and physiological signs of fear. Surprisingly, even young children are sensitive to these reactions. Thus, John would notice his parent’s response and develop his own fear response toward members of the outgroup without understanding why, as is the case with classical conditioning of responses. Over time, as his parent continues to behave similarly when faced with the outgroup, whether through in-person interactions, watching outgroup members portrayed on television and media, or some other type of encounter, John’s associations between outgroup members and negativity will strengthen.

In contrast, discriminatory behaviors that result from prejudicial attitudes are often maintained through operant conditioning rather than classical conditioning. Voluntary behaviors, such as telling racist jokes, are maintained based on schedules of reinforcement. Perhaps in adolescence, John’s friend group consistently laughs when he tells a racist joke. This positive reinforcement increases the likelihood that he will tell similar jokes in the future. Other discriminatory behaviors, such as crossing the street to avoid walking near an outgroup member, may be maintained through negative reinforcement due to the affective relief felt upon removal of the feared stimulus.