Prejudice; the unjustified negative attitude towards an individual or group based solely on their position within certain societal groups. Prejudice is not merely a statement of opinion or belief, but an attitude that includes feelings of contempt, fear and loathing, which results from a preconceived cognition or stereotype. I.E. black people aren’t as smart as white people, all gay men are effeminate etc. These core beliefs more often than not lead to heavily discriminatory behaviour from the in-group in order to undermine the out-group/minority and force them to believe their own stereotypes. This idea can be clearly related back to the movie Remember the Titans where racism, sexism and homophobia were a regular occurrence backed up by such discriminatory behaviour as segregation, work-place favouritism and often, violence. Despite this, a number of practices can be put in place in everyday life in order to reduce prejudicial attitudes and behaviour, including superordinate goals, mutual interdependence and intergroup contact.

Social psychologists throughout history have developed a number of theories pertaining as to how and why people develop prejudices toward one another; however, only a small number have been found to be applicable to most situations in life and can be readily observed throughout Remember the Titans. Such theories include, realistic conflict theory, social identity theory and mere exposure. The theory of realistic conflict was first conceived by Donald Campbell in the 1960’s and is the social psychological model of intergroup conflict. The theory explains how intergroup hostility can arise as an immediate result of competition over a real or perceived limited resource. It also serves as a basis for explaining the prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviour experienced by the out-group that results from intergroup confrontation.