Reducing our prejudices
Prejudices may be attitudes held by individuals, or by our whole society. At an individual level there are several steps we can take to reduce our own prejudicial behaviour towards other people.
- Acknowledge that you hold some prejudiced attitudes - without this nothing can change. Even the most open-minded people are likely to hold some prejudices.
- Increase your contact with those you have stereotyped thoughts about (but remember there is also huge diversity within any group). By finding out more about another group we can challenge the irrationality of the stereotypes we hold.
- Learn how others see your own identity groups (you will be part of a number of different groups according to your age, sex, ethnicity, nationality etc).
- Feel good about yourself and who you are. We need a sense of security about ourselves in order to accept people who are different from us.
- Develop empathy and listening skills, so you can really understand and accept other people.
- Value diversity and difference. Appreciate how the fact that we are not all the same makes our lives richer and more interesting.
- Respond to negative comments about other groups - this helps us to know what we stand for, and shows other people as well.