Page 357 - The Social Animal

Prejudice 339

blacks, then they will readily allow their children to attend integrated
schools. Although they should have known better, many social sci-
entists were relatively confident that they could change bigoted atti-
tudes by launching information campaigns. They took a Hollywood
approach to the reduction of prejudice: If prejudiced people believe
blacks are shiftless and lazy, then all you have to do is show them a
movie depicting that blacks are industrious, decent people. The idea
was that you can combat misinformation with information. If Shake-
speare believes Jews are conniving bloodsuckers because he has been
exposed to misinformation about Jews, expose him to a more accu-
rate range of information about Jews and his prejudice will fade away.
If most white South Africans believe blacks commit virtually all the
crimes, show them the white convicts and they’ll change their be-
liefs. Unfortunately, it is not quite that simple. Whether prejudice is
largely a function of economic conflict, conformity to social norms,
or deeply rooted personality needs, it is not easily changed by an in-
formation campaign. Over the years, most people become deeply
committed to their prejudicial behavior. To develop an open, accept-
ing attitude toward minorities when all of your friends and associates
are still prejudiced is no easy task. A mere movie cannot undo a way
of thinking and a way of behaving that has persisted over the years.
As the reader of this book has learned, where important issues are
involved, information campaigns fail because people are inclined not
to sit still and take in information that is dissonant with their beliefs.
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Paul Lazarsfeld, for example, described a series of radio broadcasts
in the early 1940s designed to reduce ethnic prejudice by presenting
information about various ethnic groups in a warm, sympathetic man-
ner. One program was devoted to a description of Polish Americans,
another to Italian Americans, and so forth. Who was listening? The
major part of the audience for the program about Polish Americans
consisted of Polish Americans. And guess who made up most of the
audience for the program on Italian Americans? Right. Moreover, as
we have seen, if people are compelled to listen to information uncon-
genial to their deep-seated attitudes, they will reject it, distort it, or
ignore it—in much the same way Mr. X maintained his negative at-
titude against Jews despite Mr. Y’s information campaign, and in
much the same way the Dartmouth and Princeton students distorted
the film of the football game they watched. For most people, preju-
dice is too deeply rooted in their own belief systems, is too consistent