Prejudice and Leadership

Psychology Submitted By: Anila Nadeem Atif Mukhtar Mahim Tariq Ahmed Zia Haris Ahmed Khan Ainee Nadeem Saad Nadeem Shiekh Umair Tariq Waris Ranjha Eesha Mir Munfarrah Batool

Table of Contents
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Prejudice ....................................................................................................................................................... 3 Definition .................................................................................................................................................. 3 Factors Contributing to the Development of Prejudice............................................................................. 3 In-groups and Out-groups ..................................................................................................................... 3 Intergroup Conflict................................................................................................................................ 3 Attributions ........................................................................................................................................... 4 Factors That May Reduce Prejudice ......................................................................................................... 4 Intergroup Contact ................................................................................................................................ 4 Cognitive interventions ......................................................................................................................... 4 Parents Role in Teaching Prejudice ......................................................................................................... 4 Tradition and Prejudice ............................................................................................................................. 5 The Role of Mass Media in Prejudice ....................................................................................................... 5 The Solutions to Prejudice ........................................................................................................................ 6 Parents Role ......................................................................................................................................... 6 Exchange Programs .............................................................................................................................. 6 Leadership ..................................................................................................................................................... 7 Definition .................................................................................................................................................. 7 Characteristics of a Leader........................................................................................................................ 8 Types of Leaders ....................................................................................................................................... 8 Autocratic Leadership ........................................................................................................................... 8 Democratic Leadership or Participative Leadership ............................................................................. 8 Laissez-Faire Leadership ...................................................................................................................... 8 Bureaucratic Leadership ....................................................................................................................... 9 Famous Leaders Who Led by Example .................................................................................................... 9 Martin Luther King Jr. .......................................................................................................................... 9 Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi ............................................................................................................ 9 Muhammad Ali Jinnah .......................................................................................................................... 9 Allama Iqbal.......................................................................................................................................... 9 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................... 11

Prejudice
Definition
The word Prejudice refers to prejudgment i.e. making a decision before becoming aware of the relevant facts of a case. In recent times, the word has come to be most often used to refer to preconceived, usually unfavorable, judgments toward people or a person because of gender, social class, age, disability, religion, sexuality, race/ethnicity, language, nationality or other personal characteristics. It can also refer to unfounded beliefs and may include "any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence. (Rosnow, 1972) Gordon W. Allport defined Prejudice as a "feeling, favorable or unfavorable, toward a person or thing, prior to, or not based on, actual experience." (Allport, 1954) Prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individuals membership of a social group. For example, a person may hold prejudiced views towards a certain race or gender etc. (e.g. sexist). (McLeod, 2008)

Factors Contributing to the Development of Prejudice

In-groups and Out-groups
People tend to belong to or identify with people who are similar to themselves, called an ingroup. (Allport, 1954) An Out-Group is a group that one does not belong to or does not fit in. People tend to view In-Groups more positively than Out-Groups, due to common membership of the same group. However, people belonging to an Out-Group are seen to be less like us and more like each other. We therefore are more likely to view them negatively.

Intergroup Conflict
People of different groups may try to compete with each other for jobs, housing, social status (standing), and positions of power or even political advantage. This is more likely to lead to prejudice, especially in times of hardship when desired resources are limited.

Attributions
Process of trying to explain observed behavior in terms of a particular cause is called attribution. Can be either internal (from within the person) or external (from the environment). If we attribute behavior to internal factors, we tend to blame one or more characteristics of the person for causing the behavior.

Factors That May Reduce Prejudice

Intergroup Contact
Sustained Contact Close, prolonged contact of a fairly direct nature (one-on-one or face-to-face) leads to a reevaluation of incorrect stereotypes about the other group and its members, thereby reducing intergroup stereotyping and prejudice. Mutual Interdependence Two different groups must have contact that makes them dependent on each other. Super-ordinate Goals A goal that overrides all other goals and cannot be achieved by any group without another groups help. (Sheriff, 1966)

Cognitive interventions
Cognitive intervention involves changing the way in which someone thinks about prejudice.

Parents Role in Teaching Prejudice

According to Thomas Pettigrew, the feelings of prejudices arise in early childhood but the beliefs to prove them come later. He said that prejudice can be changed later in life but the inner feelings are far difficult to change, so are the old patterns of thinking. His quote states that The feelings are left over from what they learned in their families as children. (Pettigrew, 1995). So parents play an important role in forming up prejudices.

Children learn prejudices by living in and observing a society where prejudices exist. Children form up opinions by inclined attitudes of their parents and other people, by what they think, do and say. Diane Maluso, Associate Professor of Psychology at Elmira College explains that parents play an important role in their childrens getting hold of prejudice. He says that The relationship between parents and childrens attitudes towards members of out-group is consistent. Not only do parents teach prejudice, but children often learn their parents prejudiced attitudes by simply observing their parents talking about and interacting with people from other groups. (Maluso)

Tradition and Prejudice

All the aspects of learning behavior leave open the question as to how the tradition of prejudice arose in first place. The fact that prejudice is widespread has led to the belief of its being inevitable and universal. Since the emergence of new nations, prejudice is brought with it to a certain degree, and sometimes been called as racism. White prejudice keeps the Negro low in standards of basic necessities of life such living, health, education, manners and morals. Over the centuries, a strict racial line has been drawn up between black and white people. This is one of the reasons why even today there is discrimination and we are being taught it through such traditions. Now religious identification is considered less significant than it was in middle ages. But even today prejudice prevails in different religious sects as it is taught by past traditions.

The Role of Mass Media in Prejudice

The medias the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilt and to make the guilt innocent, and thats the power, because they control the minds of the masses. (X) Growing evidence suggests that news media coverage of people of color helps fuel racial prejudice and stereotypes. By presenting people of color in a negative light, the media may unwittingly reinforce the prejudice that individuals already have or even increase their prejudice (Larson, 2010) Children are not born with prejudiced attitudes or with stereotypes. They learn values and beliefs from their family, peers, teachers, the media, and others around them. In other words, children learn prejudice through socialization. The media plays an important role in social learning about prejudice. T.V, popular magazines, talk shows, and Hollywood movies typically misrepresent socially disadvantaged groups. Previously the very common example of prejudice was the biased attitude of White against Black.

That biased attitude of White against Black was common in 19s, but now after 9/11 the nation or community which is the top victim of prejudice is Islamic community. Muslims are seen with an eye of suspicion. In promoting this concept that Muslims are Fundamentalists and extremists, media has played an important role. Hollywood has made movies representing the Muslims the planning minds of terrorist attacks throughout the world. Discovery and National Geography have made documentaries of the Jihad groups relating that to the whole Muslim community to exhibit to the World that Muslims are extremists. Talk shows are being arranged on News channels to discuss and spread this idea. The media today employs the internet and is the fastest way to spread stereotypes and prejudices against different people and communities. Stereotypes are appealing and easy to understand and explain to people. Media just heightens the full story and provides a simplified version of the reality.

The Solutions to Prejudice

Parents Role
Parents need to be very careful about how they behave in front of their children and they should ensure that in general conversations they emphasize on points such as equality and giving respect to every human regardless of their caste and creed. The should stress upon the positive things in life and teach them not to click negative and apply the same rule on themselves as the children will behave in the same manner their parents do. Children are sensitive characters and they feel more then we realize. The influence parents have on every aspect regarding their lives is remarkable and if they are people who discourage traits like discrimination, racism, biasness and prejudice they will definitely have children who grow up to be more sophisticated and mature.

Exchange Programs
Basically exchange programs are when student from one country go to another country to live and study. This is considered positive for both countries as students get exposure and gain vast knowledge about different cultures, norms and values and learn to adjust with people from different ethnicities. All in all this reduces prejudice. One of the most prominent student exchange programs was the Israeli and we exchange program. It focuses on the Hands across the Ocean program which is a student cultural exchange between Israel and New York City. Project as a joint venture between the Israeli consulate in New York and the American Jewish Committee; Prejudice reduction as main goal of the program (Tatum, 1995). These exchange programs educate stakeholders on equality and the fact that every person is unique to its core and should not be discriminated upon on his or her skin tone or locality.

Leadership
Definition
Leadership has been described as a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task" (M., 1997) It is the activity of leading a group of people or an organization or the ability to perform it. Leadership involves (1) establishing a clear vision, (2) sharing that vision with others so that they will follow willingly, (3) providing the information, knowledge and methods to realize that vision, and (4) coordinating and balancing the conflicting interests of all members and stakeholders. Leaders carry out leadership process by applying their leadership understanding and ability. This is called Process Leadership (Jago, March 1982). But what should be mentioned here is that our traits do affect our proceedings. This is called Trait Leadership (Jago, March 1982), in that it was once common to believe that leaders were born rather than made. These two leadership types are shown in the chart on the next page (Northouse, 2007):

Characteristics of a Leader
A good leader has a commendable character .A leader should be trustworthy and must have traits like honesty and integrity. A good leader is enthusiastic about the task and also about his role as a leader. People usually respond more fervently to a dedicated leader. A leader is a source of inspiration and he should be a motivator. A good leader must be confident. In this way when a leader displays confidence in the proposed objectives the team members tend to work more efficiently. A leader must be determined in situations of uncertainty .The team members look up to the leader during the times of unfamiliarity and find assurance and security when the leader displays confidence and determination which ultimately affects the working of the group. Good leaders are tolerant of uncertainty and remain calm, composed and persistent to the main objective. A good leader keeps a cool head in the crisis. A good leader is appreciative. He considers and encourages the ideas proposed by the team members.

Types of Leaders
There are four main types of leadership:

Autocratic Leadership
Autocratic leadership is the style of leadership in which the manager takes his own decisions and does not believe in consulting his subordinates and colleagues. An autocratic leader and expects all his orders and instructions to be followed by the work force. An autocratic leader establishes a centralized structure of management in the company and hardly ever delegates his powers to others.

Democratic Leadership or Participative Leadership

Democratic style of leadership is decentralized in nature and a democratic manager makes every possible attempt to involve his subordinates in the decision making process. He encourages the employees of the company to come up with new ideas that can be implemented in various departments of an organization. Democratic leadership always leads to specialization and an improvement in the motivation levels of the employees.

Laissez-Faire Leadership
The laissez-Fair style of leadership is an extension of democratic leadership, allowing the employees to exercise maximum possible control over their method of working with hardly any interference from the management. It may result in possible misuse of authority delegated to the workforce, eventually leading to deterioration in the overall performance of the company.

Bureaucratic Leadership
Bureaucratic Leadership is the one in which the manager believes in following and enforcing the rules and regulations of the company strictly. He goes by the book and is highly inflexible. He suffers from the drawback of not being able to adjust his policies according to the changing market conditions, thereby demoralizing the subordinates. The positive side, however, is that a bureaucratic seldom makes a technical mistake since he never violates the specified procedures.

Famous Leaders Who Led by Example

Leaders are symbols of change and rebirth. They take into account the views of their people in order to reach a solution to the problem that divides the group and causes conflicts. A good leader makes sure that his people are satisfied and sets a good example to them. Throughout the history of the world, many leaders emerged. Some were related to military and adopted an active role in politics and some were ordinary people who gathered the voices of the people, unified them and resolved conflicts. They usually have exceptional visions and wide dreams for their people. Having that ability to inspire, they shaped each nation thus creating history which shall be adored forever.

Martin Luther King Jr.

He fought against racial discrimination and for the rights of those people who did not receive fair treatment in the society. He was an agent of justice and equality.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

He is better known as the Indian instrument for justice and national independence. This man who is proclaimed as a prominent figure in todays era had been a leader and a founder of Satyagraha, a movement whose prime objective was to eradicate prejudice and inequality in his country.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once said that the leader of the people is their servant. One man who perfectly matched this quality of a leader is Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He lived and died for the people he served. He respected them and in turn received all their love and support. It was undoubtedly Quaid's leadership qualities that turned an abandoned lot into a nation. Here is one view about M.A Jinnah: Mr. M A Jinnah himself was more advanced than most of his colleagues of the Muslim League. Indeed he stood head and shoulders with them and had therefore become the indispensable leader and eventually he became the Muslim League." (Nehru, Discovery of India)

Allama Iqbal
Iqbal was not only a philosopher and a poet, but also a political leader. He contested for a seat in the Punjab Legislative Assembly of Lahore and won by a margin of 3177 votes. He was in favor

of the proposals presented by Jinnah with the aim of guaranteeing Muslim political rights. He worked with the Aga khan and other Muslim leaders to eliminate the factional divisions and achieve unity.

Bibliography
Allport, G. W. (1954). The Nature of Prejudice. New York: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. Jago, A. G. (March 1982). Leadership: Perspectives in theory and research. Management Science , 315316. Larson. (2010). In S. E. Barkan, Sociology: UNderstanding and Changing the Social World Brief Edition(v1.0). Sloan Publishing. M., C. (1997). An Integrative Theory of Leadership. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers . Maluso, D. (n.d.). How we Learn Prejudice? McLeod, S. (2008). Prejudice and Discrimintaion in Psychology. Retrieved from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/prejudice.html Northouse, G. (2007). Leadership theory and Practice. (3rd ed.). London, New Delhi: Sage Publications, Inc. Pettigrew, T. (1995). In D. Goldman, Emotional Intelligence. Random House Publishing Group. Rosnow, R. L. (1972, March). Poultry And Prejudice. Psychologist Today 5 . Psychologist. Sheriff. (1966). Tatum, E. (1995, February). Retrieved March 3, 2013, from (1) http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/9503091828/israel-u-s-cultural-exchange-journey-reduceprejudice X, M. (n.d.). Quotes by Malcom X. Retrieved March 2, 2013, from Good Reads: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/74430-the-media-s-the-most-powerful-entity-on-earth-they-have