Consciously or unconsciously, prejudice toward others affects how you view the world and interact with it.
Recognize that prejudices play a role in your life. If we split the word "prejudice" into components, we get "pre-conviction", which essentially means "hasty judgment". The realization that you, in fact, unfairly assess or judge others, is an excellent starting point. Take a closer look at your life and everyday communication. Think about the beliefs, opinions and perceptions that you have about others. Where do these prejudices come from? What happens in your life, what further strengthens them?
● According to the research, at the age of 3 years, children begin to understand their belonging to their cultural and racial group - their group, and unconsciously look at all other groups - groups of strangers.
● Some of these prejudices are formed under the influence of a home or cultural environment. The media focuses on others.
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Accept that these prejudices have been taught to us, and that one can also unlearce from them. That is, we know that children learn prejudices from an early age. Provided that prejudices can be learned, they can be disaccustomed to. It does not matter how long you stick to certain views about others, because they can be completely changed.
● Prejudice can be learned by studying the differences. According to one study, after attending a seminar on prejudice, students significantly weakened their prejudices and stereotypes
Devote yourself to changing personal prejudices. [4] The implementation of such an important change as the transformation of personal prejudices requires a lot of dedication. You should really want to change these prejudices, make maximum efforts, and do not stop in the process of change, despite the difficulties or loss of motivation.
● Show the determination to change your personal prejudices and develop an action plan. Choose one prejudice that you want to change, at a time and determine the methods by which you can get rid of it. Set the due dates. After a certain time, check how the case is moving.
Shift the point of view through the growth of self-awareness. One can completely change one's tolerance for others if one changes his point of view and realizes that prejudice and discrimination take root both in individuals and in society. We make prejudiced judgments when we look from the inside out. Could you imagine the situation from an alternative point of view, from the outside to the inside?
● Think about how others see the groups that you belong to. Is it possible that they judge you unfairly? Are your friends or relatives concerned with prejudice? How do you feel about this? What would you say to someone who unfairly assessed you based on stereotypes?
Read more. Open a book - an art or popular science book - and this will significantly help you neutralize misconceptions and ignorance about different groups, which is important in the fight against personal prejudices. Challenge yourself and choose something that will open your eyes to a new group of people.
● Studies show that people who read "Harry Potter" and identify themselves with the protagonist are less inclined to show prejudice to minority groups.
● For this purpose, fiction has a great advantage over popular science. Researchers believe that discussing the problems of discrimination in a fictional world can make the reader really think about them, because this will not interfere with the defensive reaction and the sense of one's own rightness.
Travel. If your horizon consists of one culture, it can be hard to see something beyond it. Therefore, travel plays a major role in overcoming personal prejudices. But keep in mind that for traveling it is not always necessary to cross the entire globe. Yes, traveling to another country or to a new continent will help you change your point of view, but you can also learn a lot about different people visiting different parts of your city and other cities.
Make friends among people from different groups. As soon as you manage to shift your point a little, it will be expedient to open it to people from other groups for friendship. One researcher suggested the idea of a contact hypothesis, that is, that contact with a member of a group of "strangers" can reduce prejudice.
● The next time you have the opportunity to start a conversation with someone from a group different from yours, do not miss this chance. Remember that you learned about prejudice, and try to get to know this person more closely. Discard your prejudices and let the person show who he really is.
