Motivational and Cognitive Sources of Prejudice Essay

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Asian female celebrities and Caucasian men, has become one of the most common interracial pairing in America. The trend is attributed to motivational and cognitive prejudice that a particular person has towards his or her counterpart. Prejudice emanates from a special preference for a particular individual due to race, nationality, social status, or sexual orientation. Such factors have soothed Asian women to prefer Caucasian men to their Asian male counterparts.

On the other hand, Caucasian men prefer Asian females due to their highly rated smartness, good body physic and social interactivity. In addition, Asian females are said to be submissive in nature. Anyone who finds himself a target of the cross-cultural frustrations will definitely defend himself as pursuing his tastes rather than guided by the ethnic stereotypes. This growing trend creates an imbalance in interracial pairing and both the Asian and Caucasian men have expressed their disappointment.

The Asian female and Caucasian male interracial pairing phenomenon is attributed to the motivational sources of prejudice that exist among the parties involved. This fact is clearly elaborated in the frustration and aggression, and the social identity theories. Furthermore, frustration and aggression is further categorized into the realistic group conflict theory and the scapegoat theory.

The realistic group theory is manifested in the fact that Caucasian men are striking back at the modern feminism portrayed by the Caucasian females. Most Caucasian men believe that their counterparts articulate for modern feminism, whose main agenda is equal rights for women, and in the process end up discrediting the males.

Initiating and sustaining of relationships with the Caucasian females becomes complex and uncomfortable forcing the Caucasian males to resort to Asian females who are more idealistic (Myers, 2010). Furthermore, the Caucasian men who cannot contain the masculine role that the Caucasian women play in relationships turn to women from other cultural backgrounds.

They mainly prefer the Asian females. In this regard, Asian females obtain preference because of their supposed submissive nature attributed to the male dominance in relationships from their cultures. Notably, such characteristics promoted by tradition and culture are considered to be socially backward and lack value in the American standards.

The scapegoat theory explains some of the reasons that coerce Caucasian men to prefer Asian females to the Caucasian females. Most Caucasian men with certain weaknesses in their character prefer dominance in relationship. Therefore, individuals with such personalities resort to Asian females whose culture advocates for submissiveness in a relationship. With this option, the Caucasian men can avoid the blame games that are prevalent in relationship with women who advocate for the gender role equality.

Asian women indeed become the ultimate alternative in which Caucasian men can exercise their aggression. No matter how the Asian females get exposed to the American society, their culture still pervades unlike other individuals from different backgrounds. This has therefore substantially contributed to the rapid increase in the Caucasian men’s’ preference to the Asian women.

The social identity theories propose that individuals have social groups and categories that form an important part in their self-concept. The individual personalities portrayed by both the Caucasians and the Asians reflect the need for groups, association with the in-groups and comparison with the out-groups.

Most of the young people who belong to both the Caucasian and Asian background are influenced by their counterparts to follow the same path, contributing significantly to the trend. Although numerous accusations may arise that Caucasian men are taking advantage of the Asian women, their preference is attributed by the fact that Asian women are more lady-like. On the other hand, Asian women’s preference for the Caucasian men is attributed to their need for more tolerant and socially fit men.

These women quickly point out that the Asian men are restricted by their stifling culture, which forces them to opt for men who are likely to bestow them more freedom. Considering that most relationships are initiated at school levels, most Asian men are academically focused and limit themselves to the classroom work forcing the Asian women to go for Caucasian men. Despite their brilliance, they do not put much effort on learning essential skills of establishing and maintaining relationships (Gilbert, 1998).

In spite of the cultural values that connect people, the Asian men feel discarded when the Asian women prefer the Caucasian men to them. Asian women have developed a notion that their men are nerdy and mostly suitable for the karate-chop actions. These ideologies are mainly promoted by the media, which tend to give more favour to the Caucasian men as representing the American standards. The beauty of men as portrayed by the media is represented in terms of characters such as being smart, athletic and social.

Media due to its influence on people has greatly changed the desire for women to go for ordinary men, but opt for men who fit the American standards. Such bias favours the Caucasian men in wooing the Asian women. The confidence exhibited by the Caucasian men makes them more attractive to women. A gradual decline in the number of Asian women dating Asian men creates an imbalance since few Caucasian women go for Asian men.

Asian males are disadvantaged in this regard and are generally perceived as unattractive to suit the women demands. Due to the continuous appearance of Asian women in the spotlight as representing the American beauty, the preconceptions that initially existed concerning them are now being discarded. This has influenced their preference among Caucasian men unlike the Caucasian women who are more independent.

Attribution, distinctiveness and categorisation are the cognitive source of prejudice. Categorisation is prevalent and has substantive impact on the Caucasian male and Asian women interracial pairings.

With the perception of the Caucasian men as being lenient, appreciative and respectful, they are more favourable to the Asian women compared to their competitors, the Asian men. The rating of the Caucasian men by the Caucasian women as appropriate suitors and partners creates a mentality among women that they are the ideal men for relationships.

Most Caucasian men find Asian women suitable because of the fact that the independent Caucasian women are usually short of time, preoccupied and not passionate in relationships (Baron, 2000). In this regard, the analysed perception of the desirability of the Caucasian men and Asian women relationship creates a conception that other unions are not effective.

To avoid the likely disappointments in other unions most people choose the tested patterns. Homogeneity effect plays a crucial role in the pairing of the Caucasian men and Asian females. In other words the perception held by women that all Asian men are alike creates a discrepancy in the formation of relationship.

Attrition refers to the stereotypic ideologies held by people that what takes place is justifiable. For most Caucasian men, there is a notion that Asian women are ideal for them and therefore a majority of them go for these women. Asian women on the other hand view the characteristics of the Asian men as void and weak in forming stable and enjoyable relationships.

Distinctiveness mentality among the Caucasian men creates attention and forms inappropriate judgement of the realistic partners that they should have. On a large extent, it has facilitated bias in the creation of ideal and appropriate relationships. Furthermore, both the Asian men and Caucasian women have also concurred the trend and expressed disappointments and pity for the parties involved.

References

Baron, R. A., & Byrne, D. E. (2000). Social psychology (9th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Gilbert, D. T., Fiske, S. T., & Lindzey, G. (1998). The handbook of social psychology (4th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill ;

Myers, D. G. (2010). Social psychology (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

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IvyPanda. 2018. "Motivational and Cognitive Sources of Prejudice." October 31, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/motivational-and-cognitive-sources-of-prejudice/.

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