Confronting Prejudice and Discrimination: The Science of Changing Minds and Behaviors

Confronting Prejudice and Discrimination: The Science of Changing Minds and Behaviors focuses on confrontation as a strategy for reducing bias and discrimination. The volume tackles questions that people face when they wish to confront bias: What factors influence people’s decisions to confront or ignore bias in its various forms? What are the motives and consequences of confrontation? How can confrontation be approached individually, through education and empowerment, and in specific contexts (e.g., health care) to yield favourable outcomes? These questions are paramount in contemporary society, where confrontation of bias is increasingly evident. Moreover, great strides in the scientific study of confrontation in the past 20 years has yielded valuable insights and answers. This volume is an essential resource for students and researchers with an interest in prejudice and prejudice reduction, and will also be valuable to non-academics who wish to stand up to bias through confrontation.

• Addresses factors that determine individuals’ decisions to confront stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination
• Analyzes how personal and collective motives shape responses in confrontation-relevant situations
• Examines the consequences of confrontation from the perspectives of targets, perpetrators and bystanders
• Provides a roadmap for how to prepare for and engage in successful confrontations at the individual level
• Covers confronting bias in various settings including in schools, health care, the workplace and on the internet
• Discusses confrontation in the context of racism, sexism, sexual harassment and other forms of bias, including intersectional forms of bias

Robyn Mallett, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Mallett studies the psychology of prejudice and intergroup relations, investigating how people understand and control the world around them through individual and collective action.

Margo Monteith, PhD, is a Professor of Social Psychology for the Department of Psychological Sciences at the Purdue University. Dr. Monteith’s research examines stereotyping and prejudice, drawing from social psychological methods and theories related to social cognition, attitudes, motivation, emotion, and self-regulation.