A negative evaluation of a person based solely on group membership, formed without adequate evidence or experience, constitutes prejudice. It is an attitude, often accompanied by strong emotion, that can exist independently of discriminatory behavior.

Prejudice draws on stereotypes, perceived intergroup threat, and social learning. It can be explicit and acknowledged or implicit and automatically activated. Social identity processes make favoring the in-group and derogating out-groups feel natural. Historical and economic conditions amplify or dampen specific prejudices.

Contact under conditions of equal status, common goals, and institutional support can reduce prejudice. Education that humanizes out-group members and encourages perspective taking also helps. Legal and normative changes shift the expression of prejudice even when private attitudes change more slowly. Prejudice remains one of the most thoroughly studied and socially consequential topics in social psychology.

• Preconceived negative evaluation of a group
• Can be explicit or implicit
• Fueled by stereotypes and intergroup dynamics
• Reducible through contact and perspective taking