Whenever an individual begins to absorb knowledge that they have never encountered before a multitude of happenings can occur. As chapter fifteen began I was surprised at my immediate understanding of the material. However, as I probed further into the chapter I found some striking similarities of occurrences in today’s world.
Social psychology is the study of how individuals think about, influence, and relate to one another. Before my knowledge of the chapter I had no idea that Social Psychology’ scope covered prejudice. Furthermore, the textbook definition of prejudice is “‘prejudgment’ it is an unjustifiable and usually negative attitude toward a group—often a different cultural, ethnic, or gender group. Prejudice, as I had previously understood it was just a mild term for racism. In my world, growing up as a native of the South, an individual being prejudice displayed …show more content…
Each research team reenacted the situation, by asking people to press buttons quickly to “shoot” or not shoot men who suddenly appeared on screen holding either a gun or a harmless object such as a flashlight or bottle. People (both Blacks & Whites, in one of the studies) more often mistakenly shot targets who were black.” (Meyers 556) An exact date of the study was not given, but an accurate assumption can be made that it is dated due to the textbook being published in 2005. However, (in 2015) Tamir Rice, a 12-year old African American was shoot—by the police—while playing with a toy gun. The popular opinion of Tamir Rice’s case, and many others, was that he fell victim to racism. However, the textbook example alludes to prejudice being the cause of the prejudgments that lead to the fatal shooting in the Bronx. My question is, which one is it and how do they