Institutional Bias Examples

What is institutional bias?
Institutional bias is when discriminatory practices happen at the institutional level. This level of discrimination far exceeds the individual level. While the research on institutional bias fairly new in the grand scheme of things, it can be inferred that it has been around since there have been group of people to be oppressed. It is thought that the presence of institutional bias only comes to light when negative consequences are issued.
What are some examples of institutional biases? Many examples of institutional bias come from the different treatments of African Americans verses Caucasians in health care facilities. One example comes from the prescription of pain inhibiting medications. Research shows that African Americans are more likely to abuse pain medication and thus a medical institution may less frequently or differently prescribe pain medications to an African American than they would to a Caucasian individual. As well, institutional bias has the potential to negatively impact the development of an individual, particularly a child. If a child is at the cognitive level where they can personally process the effects of individual bias, they may experience psychological stress or …show more content…
Prejudice is considered an attitude and these negative attitudes are usually towards members of a group or the group as a whole. Often, a person engages in prejudice behavior or thought processes due to feelings of discomfort; and these feelings of discomfort are called cognitive dissonance. These feelings are often used to justify their prejudice be creating false information in order to influence others to not be interested or involved with the group they are prejudice about. The cognitive process can influence beliefs or actions about prejudice through stereotyping and discrimination. Discrimination is what turns the mental process of prejudice into a