| Chapter Introduction: | Introduction to the Handbook on Prejudice |
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boundaries, like those of nations or religions, are being reinforced and rebuilt.
The scientific discourse on prejudice has its central focus in the social sciences and in particular in social psychology. The topic, however, is far from specific to one discipline only; political science, history, and education as well as literature and art and media studies have to join forces to better understand and analyse its mechanisms in its social and historical contexts. Prejudice is an eminent topic for cultural studies and calls for an integrated, multidisciplinary approach. My contribution to this volume will attempt a broader overview of this topic than is generally provided, integrating also references to literary and philosophical authors.
Prejudice is a cognitive and emotive disposition that has various prestages and antecedents as well as variants. I will discuss it here in the context of terms such as stereotype, schema, frame, bias, and ideology in order to better understand its differentia specifica as an obnoxious/malign development on the one hand and a hardening of basic mental functions on the other that are indispensable tools of the human mind and that lay the foundation in the brain for the channelling of perceptions and the processing of information.
1. Stereotype, Schema
These terms were introduced into cognitive psychology to denote basic forms of categorisation. The first and foremost activity of the brain consists of creating categories that help us identify relevant items and reduce the complexity of the world. Stereotypes create the most basic categories for our understanding in the world and of the world; they are among the first things that are learned and unconsciously absorbed by children as they grow up and interact with their environment. What is learned in this early stage guides our responses and reflexes throughout our later life. Stereotypes create basic distinctions in the phenomenal world that elicit immediate, spontaneous responses and actions. They cut up the world into binaries such as inanimate or animate? man or woman? friend or foe? familiar or strange? old or young? beautiful or ugly? Even after