Political Psychology of Stereotyping and Ethnocentrism

Have you ever judged someone or been judged based on your culture or ethnicity? Have you ever stereotyped others just because you intended to reduce the overload of information and simplify your understanding of a group of people? There is a certain chance that regardless of your racial, sexual or religious identity, you have sub-divided people according to their language, behavior, customs, and ideologies. There is even a higher chance that you have been categorized by those who think of themselves as the “right” type of people based on their own cultural understandings.
Our society is filled with stories of racism and our communities are segregated by discrimination. Although there is considerable evidence that stereotypes can have considerable truth and stereotyping is seen as a strategy of successive approximations towards valuable generalizations in an environment of restricted information, both ethnocentrism and stereotyping can lead to racism. Race and racism continue to be major factors in the politics of many nations; therefore we need to understand such elements of political psychology.

Dr. Sadigh and his guest, Dr. Jerome Rabow, will examine the theories that predict people who place a high value on their own group will tend to scorn outsiders and seriously damage the healthy relationships of being inclusive and non-judgmental. 
 
Dr. Jerome Rabow received his Ph.D in Social Psychology from the University of Michigan and started teaching at UCLA in 1965 where he is a Professor Emeritus. He continues to teach in the Honors College and is also a lecturer at CSUN.
Dr. Rabow is the President and Founder of The Center for the Celebration of Diversity through Education. He is a Licensed MFT for 35 years and has co-authored the popular Tutoring Matters (Everything you always wanted to know about tutoring) published by Temple University Press.