Racial Prejudice in College Students: A Cross-Sectional Examination.

Since Allport's classic and definitive work (Allport, 1954) racial prejudice has been recognized as a serious problem in American society. Racial prejudice is based upon negative preconceived notions of select racial groups with the assumption that all members of a particular racial group can be categorized with the same negative characteristics. Social Categorization Theory (Wittenbrink, Hilton, & Gist, 1998) explains how racial groups are then organized into in-group and out-group formations or an "us or them" way of thinking. Social categorization allows for quick sorting of individuals into racial groups saturated with a common flavor. Allport's Principle of Least Effort (1954) explains the efficiency of this process: by considering every member of a racial group as endowed with the same traits, it eliminates the need to deal with them as individuals. When combined with the Belief in Essence (1954), the idea that whatever good or ill that resides within a group also resides within each individual member, the need for tedious ethics is eliminated. This creates a path toward either monopolistic or two value judgments. Monopolistic judgments regard all individual members of a broad group as having the same inherent qualities. Such rapid appraisals often rely on racial stereotypes that force broadly descriptive monopolistic judgments upon all racial out-group members, allotting them limited and negative characteristics. Two-valued judgments represent a dichotomized thought process with no ambiguity. All is either good or bad, and in the social arena, in-group or out-group. Differentiation of the in-group and out-group can lead to distorted attitudes that enhance racial prejudice. Under conditions where time is scarce and cognitive resources are spread thin, these judgments expedite the process of categorization. Such conditions are often present within the multi-tasking social arena faced by students in higher education (Pettijohn & Walzer, 2008). Colleges and universities are microcosms of society and are therefore a logical place to address racial prejudice and prepare students to function in todays' racially diverse society. Most social scientists would agree that students currently enrolled in higher education express racial prejudice more covertly than did students before the civil rights movement brought integration and affirmative action to college campuses. Nevertheless, research continues to identify an underlying current of racial prejudice at many college campuses (Umbach & Kuh, 2006). As we move through the 21st century and educators embrace a more global and multicultural perspective, racial prejudice among students in higher education remains an issue worthy of further scientific investigation (Chang, 2002; Cole, Case, Curtin, & Rios, 2011; Hogan & Mallott, 2005; Pettijohn & Walzer, 2008;  2010; Rankin & Reason, 2005). Pettijohn and Walzer (2008) used a pre post-test design to examine old-fashioned and modern racial prejudice in 99 undergraduate students attending a small, private college in Western Pennsylvania. Students were primarily Caucasian (95%) females (64%). On the first day of class, students in a Psychology of Prejudice course (n=33) and students in an Introduction to Psychology course (n=66) completed a written questionnaire. A five-point Likert scale measured each student's level of agreement with prejudicial statements. Students completed the same questionnaire on the last day of class. Comparing the results of the pre- and post-test questionnaires showed that students in the Psychology of Prejudice course displayed a significant reduction in old-fashioned racism (but not modern racism). Students in the Introduction to Psychology course showed no significant reduction in either old-fashioned or modern racism. A shortcoming of this study was that the Introduction to Psychology course contained primarily freshman (71%) while the Psychology of Prejudice course contained a significantly smaller proportion of freshman (21%). …

Field of study: Education