Examining Prejudice Types and Their Influence on Attitudes Toward Groups

Son Hing et al. (2008) in their two-dimensional model of prejudice, subtyped prejudice into four distinct groupings: Truly-low prejudiced (TLP; those who score low on implicit and explicit measures of prejudice); Aversive Racists (AR; score low on explicit but high on implicit measures); Principled Conservatives (PC; score high on implicit but low on explicit measures); and Modern Racists (MR; score high on both implicit and explicit measures). The current thesis examines the role that explicit attitudes (those that we are consciously aware of) and implicit attitudes (those that are outside of our conscious awareness) may play in our judgments of racial and cultural ingroups and outgroups, including the interaction between these two types of attitude as set out in the Son Hing et al. (2008) model. The intention was to explore whether this two-dimensional model can provide more detailed explanation of people’s attitudes toward others than merely examining the component parts (explicit and implicit prejudice), particularly relating to contemporary issues within society. Across a series of four experimental studies, implicit and explicit prejudice was measured in 395 participants and measures of responses to a number of dependent variables were obtained. In the first experiment, using a subliminal priming methodology, participants scoring low on both measures (TLP) were more positive towards outgroup members whilst those scoring high on both measures (MR) were more positive towards ingroup members. In the second experiment, examining outgroup member abuse of resources, significant differences were found between subtype groups TLP and MR but opposite to that predicted, a finding explained in the discussion of the experimental chapter. In the third experimental chapter, examining attitudes towards legal and illegal immigration, clear distinctions were found between the four prejudice subtypes and their responses on the dependent variables followed a pattern expected from the existing literature. In the final experimental chapter, examining voting behaviour in the 2016 EU Referendum and political party preference, data showed a relationship between explicit prejudice attitudes and the dependent variables. The final chapter, the general discussion, considers explicit prejudice, implicit prejudice, and their interaction in the Son Hing et al. (2008) model in light of the findings presented here and addresses limitations and recommendations from the current thesis findings. The overall findings of this thesis suggest that prejudice subtypes do exist and play a role in people’s attitudes and behaviour, particularly where the issues being examined are contemporary and seen as relevant to the participants. However, explicit prejudice in particular was found to be highly influential in the data produced from this thesis and so it is also important to recognise that the component parts of the model need to be carefully explored and analysed. Overall then, the findings suggest that continued exploration of these subtypes, particularly in terms of the way each may be targeted differentially with prejudice reduction measures, could be a particularly valuable methodological and theoretical framework to pursue in future prejudice research in the United Kingdom