Prejudice is an attitude, usually a negative prejudgment that some groups are inferior. Positive prejudice exaggerates the virtues of a group, such as the idea that one group is superior to other groups. Discrimination is an action, the unfair treatment against someone based on some characteristic of the person. A person could hold negative feelings toward a group, but because of laws or social pressure, he or she would be unwilling to act on such feelings. Conversely, it is possible that a nonprejudiced person might behave in a discriminatory manner for fear of being ostracized by his or her social group.
