Is everybody prejudiced? Are some people more prejudiced than others? If so, how do they get that way?

It would be hard to imagine being able to undo all the layers of conditioning-the internalized messages from our families, social groups, and culture (e.g., media) about our group and other groups. But it does seem that individuals with certain personality traits seem to demonstrate higher levels of prejudice toward other groups. One study found that children who were rated as "high bias" at 6 years of age showed differences from "low bias" children as early as the age of 6 months (Katz & Barrett, 1997). The infants who later were rated as "high bias," for example, paid less attention to the race of adults who came in and out of the room than the children who were later rated as "low bias." This difference was noted at an age that predates the assumed influence of parents on children's ideas and prejudices and points to the possibility that personality differences may lead some persons to be more prejudiced than others.

While commonsense may suggest that parents' specific attitudes toward other groups directly influence their children's views, studies have not shown this to be the case. But parents do seem to play a role. For example, in the study just mentioned, the high bias children lived in more socially homogenous environments than low bias children, and their parents did not value diversity as highly as "low bias" children.

Social dominance orientation (SDO) is a recently developed concept which focuses on individuals' attitudes toward intergroup relations. Individuals with a high social dominance orientation (SDO) are thought to believe that hierarchical relations are necessary and natural and prefer their group is on top, as opposed to an orientation which prefers equal relations among groups. Individuals high in SDO tend to be political conservatives and to have higher levels of sexism and racism (Pratto et al., 1994).