Case file
Prejudice
- Filed under
- What Should We Remember
The charge
Prejudice is a pre-judgment about a person or group that persists even when the specific evidence is limited, mixed, or contradictory. It often turns broad generalizations into enduring attitudes that shape what we notice and remember.
How it operates
People use categories to simplify social complexity, and those categories can become emotionally charged and self-reinforcing. Once an attitude forms, memory and attention often favor information that preserves the attitude.
Logged incidents
- Incident 01
A manager gives less stretch work to employees from a certain background because they assume lower readiness, which then limits evidence that could disconfirm the belief.
- Incident 02
A sales leader dismisses enterprise buyers in one region as 'always impossible' and remembers only the toughest negotiations.
- Incident 03
A team discounts feedback from customer support agents because of status-based assumptions about their strategic value.
What to watch for
Notice broad judgments that arrive before case-specific data. Ask: "What evidence would make me change my mind about this person or group?"
Recommended action
Use intergroup contact under structured, equal-status conditions and base decisions on explicit criteria rather than impressions. Perspective-taking and individuation reduce reliance on group-level pre-judgments.
Known associates
- Implicit StereotypeStereotypical bias is the tendency to remember, interpret, and judge people through broad category-based…
- Fading Affect BiasFading affect bias is the tendency for the emotional intensity of unpleasant memories to fade faster than…
- Misattribution of MemoryMisattribution happens when you remember information or an event but attach it to the wrong person, place,…
- Source ConfusionSource confusion is a memory error in which you correctly remember information but cannot accurately identify…
- CryptomnesiaCryptomnesia is when a forgotten memory returns but feels like a new original idea.
- False MemoryA false memory is a recollection of an event or detail that did not happen, or did not happen the way it is…
Source of record