Racial Tension In Social Psychology

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The aim of this assignment is to discuss how psychology can be used in order to tackle the community issues of racial tension. Psychology can be defined as the scientific study of the human mind and its functions (Oxford, 2014), the role of a psychologist is to study mental processes and human behaviour and record how they relate to one another. Racial tension can be defined as the dislike or animosity individuals show towards other racial groups, this can be caused by ‘resentment’ when one group believes individuals from other racial groups are being treated more fairly within society. Another way in which racial tension can be caused is by ‘bigotry’ whereby some racial groups have been taught to be prejudice towards other races.
There are
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This was the beginnings of the slave trade system which evolved into a nightmare of abuse and cruelty which ultimately divided the nation’s dependents on colour (History, 2009). On 25th May 1807 England finally outlawed the slave trade when parliament passed the Slave Trade Act, however during the 1950s saw mass migration when Britain invited workers from the Caribbean over in order to help rebuild post war Britain. With the rise of immigration so too was the rise in racial violence. In 1968 saw the first piece of legislation to address racial discrimination which was The Race Relations Act, This act out-lawed discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity or colour (Gov, 1968). Once these laws were passed the prejudice towards non-white citizens began to fade as they began to attend school together and worked side by side, despite this racial tension still exist in today’s society.
For many years psychologists have carried out research on racism and made attempts to understand the causes of negative feelings towards individuals of a different race or ethnicity. Given the current issue of racial tension in today’s society and the research that has been carried out, psychologists believe they can now identify four social psychological theories (Tajfel, 1981). The theories are realistic conflict theory, social identity theory, optimal
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The study was said to be one of the largest of its kind to be carried out in the UK and consisted of completing questionnaires from 5,945 children with a range of ages from 10-16 at various schools across England. The results from the study were astounding, 60% of the children believed asylum seekers and immigrants were stealing jobs, 75% of the children believed newspapers can contribute to racism and 84% believed that racism is taken more seriously when it is towards a black or asian person that when it is towards a white person. Despite the views expressed more than 70% of the students believed that stereotypes can be dangerous. The findings raised serious questions with regards to the information young people obtain from the media and online.
Conclusion
Racial tension has been a feature within society for centuries The long term effects of historic racial tension are evidenced by the sustained inherent racialism present in many individuals as a consequence of their childhood experiences and

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