I'm sure ON will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that prejudice is simply a subset of bias, which is hardwired into humans.
It was my epistemology professor who said (and he was quoting an epistemologist whose name I can't remember) that without biases (including prejudice) we wouldn't be able to function because of the epistemic chaos that would result. It also ties into Hume's critique of Induction.
Originally posted by Omega Vision
I'm sure ON will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that prejudice is simply a subset of bias, which is hardwired into humans.
I've always thought of prejudice as a subconscious survival tactic stemming from correlation between an object and your experiences with said object.
For instance. If you've only encountered what you experience to be maladjusted canines, then you might associate canines with malice, and stay away from them.
Bias can be enonciated in a positive way while prejudice is an absence as far as I can tell. If I only drink green tea because that's the way I do everyday, my experience comes from a positive perspective, I actually have an object of experience. You normally have a prejudice against things, which means you're devaluating them based on a subset of factors that aren't directly dependant on them. If your prejudice ends up adding enough on itself to become a fully fledged experience then it becomes a bias.
Prejudice is seen as something very negative partially because it comes from a subset of faulty expectatives which cannot be backed up by proper experience. Bias are barely better, because they root for partial experience instead of straight theoretical comparision.
That's the difference I get from the context in which the language is often applied, of course my word isn't necessarily true, as I'm not a native language speaker.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/prejudice?s=t
prej·u·dicenoun
1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.
4. such attitudes considered collectively: The war against prejudice is never-ending.
5. damage or injury; detriment: a law that operated to the prejudice of the majority.verb
6. to affect with a prejudice, either favorable or unfavorable: His honesty and sincerity prejudiced us in his favor.
So, in some, but not most, uses, prejudice can mean favorable bias, though not in most common usage.
prejudiceDefinition: belief without basis, information; intolerance
Synonyms: ageism, animosity, antipathy, apartheid, aversion, bad opinion, bias, bigotry, chauvinism, contemptuousness, detriment, discrimination, disgust, dislike, displeasure, disrelish, enmity, foregone conclusion, illiberality, injustice, jaundiced eye, mindset, misjudgment, narrow-mindedness, one-sidedness, partiality, pique, preconceived notion, preconception, prejudgment, prepossession, racism, repugnance, revulsion, sexism, slant, spleen, tilt, twist, umbrage, unfairness, warp, xenophobia
Notes: a person's bias is based on facts, but prejudice occurs without a person knowing or examining the facts
[emphasis added]
like, does that work? Settled? semantics=done?
Originally posted by Oliver North
omg so cute...
Originally posted by Oliver North
at least in psych,
So. Let's try this again. Provide me with a credible source that distinguishes bias from prejudice as far as psychological terminology is concerned.
Because as far as semantics are concerned, there's nothing to argue. Using an open source like Reference.com to counter the validity of the Oxford dictionary and thesaurus as far as the English language is concerned is ridiculous.
Originally posted by Astner
So. Let's try this again. Provide me with a credible source that distinguishes bias from prejudice as far as psychological terminology is concerned.
I said they wouldn't distinguish it...
a couple quick pubmed searches will reveal to you that "prejudice" is used as a subset of "bias" to talk about negative evaluations, though I can't imagine anyone has taken the time to fundamentally and empirically differentiate the two things.
My justification for my semantic choices would be ease of communication and common usage. I imagine you would have a much more difficult time communicating that you liked something using the term "prejudice", regardless of its semantic correctness.
Originally posted by Oliver North
a couple quick pubmed searches will reveal to you that "prejudice" is used as a subset of "bias" to talk about negative evaluations, though I can't imagine anyone has taken the time to fundamentally and empirically differentiate the two things.