An Analysis of
Gordon Allport’s
The Nature of Prejudice
Alexander O’Connor
Copyright © 2017 by Macat International Ltd
24:13 Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road, London SW6 6AW.
Macat International has asserted its right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988 to be identified as the copyright holder of this work.
The print publication is protected by copyright. Prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in
a retrieval system, distribution or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, me-
chanical, recording or otherwise, permission should be obtained from the publisher or where
applicable a license permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom should be obtained
from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Barnard’s Inn, 86 Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1EN, UK.
The ePublication is protected by copyright and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred,
distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically
permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which
it was purchased, or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distri-
bution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and the publishers’ rights
and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
www.macat.com
[email protected]
Cover illustration: Etienne Gilfillan
Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-912303-52-6 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-912127-62-7 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-912282-40-1 (e-book)
Notice
The information in this book is designed to orientate readers of the work under analysis,
to elucidate and contextualise its key ideas and themes, and to aid in the development
of critical thinking skills. It is not meant to be used, nor should it be used, as a
substitute for original thinking or in place of original writing or research. References and
notes are provided for informational purposes and their presence does not constitute
endorsement of the information or opinions therein. This book is presented solely for
educational purposes. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged
to provide any scholarly advice. The publisher has made every effort to ensure that
this book is accurate and up-to-date, but makes no warranties or representations with
regard to the completeness or reliability of the information it contains. The information
and the opinions provided herein are not guaranteed or warranted to produce particular
results and may not be suitable for students of every ability. The publisher shall not be
liable for any loss, damage or disruption arising from any errors or omissions, or from
the use of this book, including, but not limited to, special, incidental, consequential or
other damages caused, or alleged to have been caused, directly or indirectly, by the
information contained within.
CONTENTS
WayS IN TO ThE TEXT
Who Was Gordon Allport? 9
What Does The Nature of Prejudice Say? 10
Why Does The Nature of Prejudice Matter? 12
SECTION 1: INfluENCES
Module 1:The Author and the Historical Context 15
Module 2: Academic Context 21
Module 3:The Problem 25
Module 4:The Author’s Contribution 29
SECTION 2: IdEaS
Module 5: Main Ideas 34
Module 6: Secondary Ideas 39
Module 7: Achievement 43
Module 8: Place in the Author’s Work 47
SECTION 3: ImpaCT
Module 9:The First Responses 52
Module 10:The Evolving Debate 57
Module 11: Impact and Influence Today 62
Module 12:Where Next? 66
Glossary of Terms 71
People Mentioned in the Text 78
Works Cited 83
ThE maCaT lIBRaRy
The Macat Library is a series of unique academic explorations of
seminal works in the humanities and social sciences – books and
papers that have had a significant and widely recognised impact on
their disciplines. It has been created to serve as much more than just a
summary of what lies between the covers of a great book. It illuminates
and explores the influences on, ideas of, and impact of that book. Our
goal is to offer a learning resource that encourages critical thinking and
fosters a better, deeper understanding of important ideas.
Each publication is divided into three Sections: Influences, Ideas, and
Impact. Each Section has four Modules. These explore every important
facet of the work, and the responses to it.
This Section-Module structure makes a Macat Library book easy to
use, but it has another important feature. Because each Macat book is
written to the same format, it is possible (and encouraged!) to cross-
reference multiple Macat books along the same lines of inquiry or
research. This allows the reader to open up interesting interdisciplinary
pathways.
To further aid your reading, lists of glossary terms and people
mentioned are included at the end of this book (these are indicated by
an asterisk [*] throughout) – as well as a list of works cited.
Macat has worked with the University of Cambridge to identify the
elements of critical thinking and understand the ways in which six
different skills combine to enable effective thinking.
Three allow us to fully understand a problem; three more give us
the tools to solve it. Together, these six skills make up the
PACIER model of critical thinking. They are:
ANAlysIs – understanding how an argument is built
EvAluAtIoN – exploring the strengths and weaknesses of an argument
INtERPREtAtIoN – understanding issues of meaning
CREAtIvE thINkINg – coming up with new ideas and fresh connections
PRoblEm-solvINg – producing strong solutions
REAsoNINg – creating strong arguments
To find out more, visit www.mACAt.Com.
CRITICal ThINkINg aNd ThE NaTuRE Of pREJudICE
primary critical thinking skill: REaSONINg
Secondary critical thinking skill: EvaluaTION
With his 1954 book The Nature of Prejudice, American psychologist
Gordon Allport displays the crucial skill of reasoning, producing and
organizing an argument that was persuasive enough to have a major
impact not only in universities, but also on government policy.
The question that Allport tackled was an old one: why are people so
disposed to prejudice against those from other groups? Earlier
psychologists had suggested a number of reasons, especially in the case
of racial prejudice. Some had suggested that racism was a learned
behaviour, conditioned by negative experiences of other races; others
that there was an objective rationale to negative racial stereotypes.
Allport, however, reasoned that prejudice is essentially a by-product of
the necessary mental shortcuts the human brain uses to process the vast
amount of information it takes in. Because our brains want to use as
little effort as possible, they regularly fall back on simple stereotypes
– which easily generate prejudice. Gathering strong evidence for this
hypothesis, he reasoned, clearly and persuasively, that our natural
cognitive approach is the most significant factor in accounting for
prejudice. Going further still, Allport also reasoned that, once this was
better understood, social scientists would be able to influence policy-
makers to curb discrimination by law.
aBOuT ThE auThOR Of ThE ORIgINal WORk
Gordon Allport (1897–1967) was born in Indiana in the United States.
He studied at Harvard University, and went on to work there for 40 years.
He made huge contributions to the field of personality psychology and his
influence is still felt today. Allport lived through important and unsettling
historical times, including the Holocaust and the American Civil Rights
Movement.This gave him a burning desire to tap into psychological
explanations for the violent, discriminatory behavior of so many people.
He was convinced that social science had a vital role to play in giving
governments policy guidance to reduce the evil of discrimination.
aBOuT ThE auThORS Of ThE aNalySIS
Dr Alexander O’Connor did his postgraduate work at the University of
California, Berkeley, where he received a PhD for
work on social and personality psychology.
aBOuT maCaT
gREaT WORkS fOR CRITICal ThINkINg
Macat is focused on making the ideas of the world’s great thinkers
accessible and comprehensible to everybody, everywhere, in ways that
promote the development of enhanced critical thinking skills.
It works with leading academics from the world’s top universities to
produce new analyses that focus on the ideas and the impact of the most
influential works ever written across a wide variety of academic disciplines.
Each of the works that sit at the heart of its growing library is an enduring
example of great thinking. But by setting them in context – and looking
at the influences that shaped their authors, as well as the responses they
provoked – Macat encourages readers to look at these classics and
game-changers with fresh eyes. Readers learn to think, engage and
challenge their ideas, rather than simply accepting them.
‘Macat offers an amazing first-of-its-kind tool for
interdisciplinary learning and research. Its focus on works
that transformed their disciplines and its rigorous approach,
drawing on the world’s leading experts and educational institutions,
opens up a world-class education to anyone.’
andreas Schleicher,
director for Education and Skills, Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and development
‘Macat is taking on some of the major challenges in university
education … They have drawn together a strong team of active
academics who are producing teaching materials that are
novel in the breadth of their approach.’
prof lord Broers,
former vice-Chancellor of the university of Cambridge
‘The Macat vision is exceptionally exciting. It focuses
upon new modes of learning which analyse and explain seminal texts
which have profoundly influenced world thinking and so social and
economic development. It promotes the kind of critical thinking
which is essential for any society and economy.
This is the learning of the future.’
Rt hon Charles Clarke, former uk Secretary of State for Education
‘The Macat analyses provide immediate access to the critical
conversation surrounding the books that have shaped their
respective discipline, which will make them an invaluable resource
to all of those, students and teachers, working in the field.’
professor William Tronzo, university of California at San diego
WayS IN TO ThE TEXT
kEy PoINts
• gordon allport was an american psychologist who had a
profound and lasting impact on his field.
• The Nature of Prejudice gives a comprehensive
understanding of the psychology of prejudice, explaining
how and why prejudice exists.
• The ideas that allport put forward in The Nature of
Prejudice shaped the study of prejudice for decades and
are still relevant today.
Who was gordon allport?
Gordon Willard Allport (1897–1967) was born in Montezuma,
Indiana, the youngest of four sons. One of his elder brothers, Floyd
Henry Allport,* was an influential social psychologist* himself and
played a key role in developing Gordon’s career. Floyd studied
psychology at the prestigious Harvard University and encouraged
Gordon to enroll there as an undergraduate. The two brothers later
went on to collaborate on a book on personality psychology.*
After gaining his degree in philosophy and economics in 1919,
Allport headed for Europe, teaching in Istanbul, Turkey, for a period.
He also visited Sigmund Freud*—who became known as the father
of psychoanalytic therapy*—in Vienna in 1920. Allport returned to
Harvard that same year to begin a PhD in psychology, earning his
9
Macat Analysis of Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice
doctorate in 1922. The university then awarded Allport a traveling
fellowship, and he returned to Europe to study Gestalt psychology* in
Berlin and Hamburg.This new school of psychology placed particular
emphasis on the cognitive* (or conscious thought). The experience
shaped Allport’s later work and influenced his move toward the use of
cognitive theory rather than psychodynamic* or behaviorist*
thinking.
Allport returned to Harvard University in 1924, where he worked
first as an instructor and then as a professor for the best part of four
decades until his death in 1967. He was elected president of the
American Psychological Association in 1939.
Published in 1954, Allport’s fourth book, The Nature of Prejudice, is
his best-known work and is considered one of the most important and
influential texts in social psychology. Allport is also known as one of
the founders of personality psychology and wrote a number of books
on the subject, including the influential Becoming: Basic Considerations
for Psychology of Personality in 1955.
What does The Nature Of Prejudice Say?
Allport wanted to integrate already-existing research on prejudice*
with his own ideas to show that:
• prejudice is widespread
• prejudice does not have a single cause, but is the result of many
different factors
• prejudice and discrimination can be limited and, ultimately,
combated.
Decades of research have followed The Nature of Prejudice, but the
majority of Allport’s conclusions stand up today, and the original ideas
he explained in the book are still relevant. Allport’s highly influential
10
Ways In to the Text
intergroup contact hypothesis* was first outlined here.This hypothesis
suggests that if people have increased experience of a group outside
their own, then their attitudes toward that group will improve.
With The Nature of Prejudice, Allport changed the focus of
personality psychology. The Freudian analytic approach, in which a
person’s childhood experiences are thought to shape his or her
unconscious and forge the personality, had some support. But at the
time the book was published in 1954, behaviorism was the approach
that dominated. Behaviorism puts forward the idea that we are all
effectively blank slates and that our character traits* are created by
external, environmental factors. Allport looked at both the Freudian
and behaviorist approaches, and considered both to be too extreme.
Freud’s psychodynamic approach didn’t seem to recognize the
importance of conscious thought (the cognitive), while behaviorism
appeared to deny the importance that thought processes and
experience, whether conscious or unconscious, could have on
someone’s personality. Allport expressed his support for a more
cognitive approach, suggesting that personality is formed by conscious
mental activities such as attitudes, beliefs, and memory processing.This
was a significant shift in the field of psychology, and Allport’s work in
The Nature of Prejudice helped develop the field of social cognition.*
Allport argues in his book that prejudice has many causes and that
all human beings are capable of it. His theory suggests that prejudice is
the result of cognitive processes, of patterns of thinking and beliefs.
One of these cognitive processes, the “least-effort principle,”* was
described by Allport before anyone else in relation to prejudice. In the
least-effort principle, a person uses generalizations and stereotypes* as
a mental shortcut to form a view of someone, rather than taking the
longer route, drawing on memory and judgment. Allport said that
these stereotypes, or shortcuts, are often based on visible features, such
as a person’s race.
Allport’s intention in writing The Nature of Prejudice was to make a
11
Macat Analysis of Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice
positive difference, as prejudice and discrimination were widespread in
the United States and the rest of the world. The book was written
when the shocking details of the Holocaust* had recently become
known and the American Civil Rights Movement,* which was
fighting for greater rights for minority groups, was gaining momentum.
The Nature of Prejudice developed new ideas, but also offered a
comprehensive look at all the existing theories on the subject. Allport
found the idea of behaviorism negative, because it put forward the
notion that change could come about only through a modification in
the environment in which people were living. So in this framework
the only way it would be possible to change prejudice would be to
alter the poor economic situations in which certain groups lived.
Allport suggested that how people think about things—cognition—
was a much more significant factor in conquering prejudice. He
believed that once it was better understood why prejudice occurred,
social scientists would then be moved to act to influence policy-
makers to curb discrimination by political means. The Nature of
Prejudice was widely read and admired when it was first published, and
some anti-discrimination laws were indeed introduced in the years
after it appeared. It could be concluded that Allport’s ideas in The
Nature of Prejudice had some influence in reducing prejudice and
discrimination. There is little hard evidence of a direct link, however,
so it is not possible to say exactly how much social change Allport’s
psychological investigation of prejudice concretely achieved.
Why does The Nature Of Prejudice matter?
The Nature of Prejudice is essential reading for anyone interested in
personality and psychology. In 2005, a collection of essays to mark the
50th anniversary of the book was published. Called On the Nature of
Prejudice: FiftyYears after Allport, each essay paid tribute to Allport’s core
themes.Written by the most influential prejudice researchers working
in psychology—such as John Dovidio* and Susan Fiske*—the essays
12
Ways In to the Text
give credit to Allport for paving the way for most contemporary social
psychological research on prejudice. In his introduction, Dovidio says,
“There is no debate that Gordon Allport’s (1954/1979) The Nature of
Prejudice is the foundational work for the social psychology of
prejudice. Contemporary prejudice researchers and scholars regularly
refer back to this work not only for apt quotations, but also for
inspiration. Social science instructors often pair Allport’s book with
recent articles. Indeed, any student of prejudice ignorant of Allport
would be rightly considered illiterate.”1
The Nature of Prejudice is also invaluable reading for anyone
interested in the growth of the human rights movements of the mid-
twentieth century. In particular, Allport’s ideas about prejudice act as a
historical record of the early times of the American Civil Rights
Movement. This is because his ideas represent the central arguments
that were put forward by the movement, aiming to reduce prejudice
and discrimination and improve the rights of minority groups. In
addition, the book also supported and informed legislation intended
to fight discrimination in the United States. Allport believed that
“legislation, if enforced, may be a sharp tool in the battle against
discrimination.”2
Finally, Allport gave balanced consideration to many different
theories of prejudice. He drew from most areas of psychology,
including clinical,* social, personality, and developmental* psychology.
Not only does The Nature of Prejudice provide an introduction to the
broader field of psychology, it also emphasizes that most psychological
phenomena are determined by a number of different factors.
NotEs
1 John F. Dovidio et al., On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport
(Abingdon: Blackwell Publishing, 2005), 1.
2 Gordon W. Allport, The Nature of Prejudice (New York: Basic Books, 1979),
442.
13
References
Akhtar, Salman , and Mary Kay O’Neil , eds. On Freud’s “Beyond the Pleasure Principle.”
London: Karnac Books, 2011.
Allport, G. W. “Gordon W. Allport.” In History of Psychology in Autobiography, edited by
E. Boring and G. Lindsay , vol. 5, 1–25. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967.
The Nature of Prejudice. New York: Basic Books, 1979.
Personality: A Psychological Interpretation. New York: Henry Holt, 1937.
Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center, Inc. , 473 US 432—Supreme Court 1985, 464.
Crocker, Jennifer , and Brenda Major . “Social Stigma and Self-Esteem: The Self-
Protective Properties of Stigma.” Psychological Review 96, no. 4 (1989): 608–630.
Devine, Patricia G. “Stereotypes and Prejudice: Their Automatic and Controlled
Components.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 56, no. 1 (1989): 5–18.
Dovidio, John F. , Peter Glick , and Laurie A. Rudman . “Introduction: Reflecting on The
Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport.” In On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years
after Allport, 1–15. New York: Wiley, 2005.
On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years after Allport. Abingdon: Blackwell Publishing,
2005.
Elms, Alan C. Uncovering Lives: The Uneasy Alliance of Biography and Psychology.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994, 79–80.
Haggbloom, Steven J. , Renee Warnick , Jason E. Warnick , Vinessa K. Jones , Gary L.
Yarbrough , Tenea M. Russell , Chris M. Borecky , Reagan McGahhey , John L. Powell ,
Jamie Beavers , and Emmanuelle Monte . “The 100 Most Eminent Psychologists of the
20th Century.” Review of General Psychology 6, no. 2 (2002): 139–152.
Herek, Gregory M. “Religious Orientation and Prejudice: A Comparison of Racial and
Sexual Attitudes.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 13, no. 1 (1987): 34–44.
Hjelle, L. A. , and D. J. Ziegler . Personality Theories: Basic Assumptions, Research, and
Applications. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1992.
Katz, Irwin . “Gordon Allport’s The Nature of Prejudice.”Political Psychology 12, no. 1
(1991): 125–157.
Nicholson, Ian A. M. Inventing Personality: Gordon Allport and the Science of Selfhood.
Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2003.
Pasamanick, Benjamin . “A Comparative Study of the Behavioral Development of Negro
Infants.” The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology 69, no. 1 (1946):
3–44.
Pettigrew, Thomas . Preface to The Nature of Prejudice, by John F. Dovidio , Peter Glick
, and Laurie A. Rudman . New York: Basic Books, 1979.
Pettigrew, Thomas F. “Gordon Willard Allport: A Tribute.” Journal of Social Issues 55, no.
3 (1999): 415–428.
Pettigrew, Thomas F. , and Linda R. Tropp . “A Meta-analytic Test of Intergroup Contact
Theory.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 90, no. 5 (2006): 751–783.
Skinner, Burrhus Frederic . About Behaviorism. New York: Random House, 2011.
Zipf, George . Human Behavior and the Principle of Least Effort: An Introduction to
Human Ecology. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1949.
Zirkel, Sabrina , and Nancy Cantor . “50 Years after Brown v. Board of Education: The
Promise and Challenge of Multicultural Education.” Journal of Social Issues 60, no. 1
(2004): 1–15.
