Affective and Cognitive Determinants of Prejudice

According to traditional theories, prejudice toward national, racial, and ethnic groups was considered to consist largely of a negative affective response toward the group or toward members of the group. More recently, however, the general approach to the study of prejudice within social psychology has been to emphasize its cognitive determinants, particularly in terms of the formation and maintenance of social stereotypes. The present research compared the importance of stereotypical beliefs about and affective responses to national, ethnic, and religious groups as predictors of favorability and preferred social distance toward the groups. In two studies, emotional responses to the target groups were found to be a more consistent and stronger predictor of attitudes and social distance than were social stereotypes. This was true whether stereotypes were assessed in terms of percentage assignment, as a likelihood ratio, or as personal beliefs about group characteristics. It is suggested that future research should carefully consider the joint roles of affect and cognition as determinants of prejudice.