Prejudice, one of humanity’s greatest flaws, is defined as “an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group” (McLeod, “Prejudice and Discrimination” 1). As it is so deeply rooted in both culture and history, it can be expected that some people believe that unfair bias is rooted in one’s mind; however, studies have shown that both the formation and strength of prejudice in children relies on their environment’s words, social norms, and the experience which children go through. Therefore, prejudice cannot be prevented so long as those who raise and surround the next generation remain biased. Since children (up to fourteen years of age) are easily influenced …show more content…
One of the most conspicuous results of experiencing something negative is how one’s mentality in general can be impacted. This spreads beyond the realm of prejudice and leaks into more sensitive topics such as domestic abuse or child neglect: for example, it is understandable to hear that “[a] girl whose father abandoned her and her mother may form a belief that men cannot be trusted” (“How our past experiences” 2). Within the span of prejudice, however, first-hand, heavily negative experiences can also be the cause of racial trauma, a “race-based traumatic stress injury [that] can be a consequence of emotional pain that a person may feel after encounters with racism” (Carter 1). The effects of racial trauma may result in things spanning from suspicions of social institutions to attempting to appear tough in order to cope with danger (Turner and Richardson 2). These effects of blatant, first-hand racism are understandable and the most severe as it can be expected that one would almost immediately form a bias against an entire group because they fear another encounter. In summary, negative first-hand experiences will, most likely, result in instant bias towards the race or group of the