CHAPTER I.

STEREOTYPES AND PREJUDICES

I.1. Origin of the concept of stereotype
We looked up the meaning of the word stereotype in the Online Etymology
Dictionary, Douglas Harper 2010 and we learned that the word stereotype comes
from the late 18th century from a french word strotype (adj.). It is composed from two
Greek words, stereos which means "solid" and "tupos" which means footprint or mark.
It was in 1798 a "method of printing from a plate". So, first it was used in the printing
press. Later, the word was used to refer to mechanic actions. Another meaning was
given in Social Science, by W. Lippmann in 1922 as a "preconceived and
oversimplified notion of characteristics typical of a person or group" in his book Public
Opinion.

I.2. Definition of main concepts

The study of stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination belongs to Social
Psychology. The purpose of this Science is to study the behavior of people and their
interaction with others.
Humans tend to categorize the world, their surroundings, to make it more
intelligible. However it can be dangerous. Indeed, the categorization process is not only
the establishment of neutral categories because humans give them sometimes some
particular characteristics. Characterizations of people are done, it is called the social
categorization (Tajfel 1972 cited by Moliner & Vidal 2003).
Onset our scientific approach first requires accurate definition of key terms and
concepts related to the phenomena of cultural and social stereotypes and prejudices.
Nowadays, almost everyone faces on a daily basis problems of behavior
alternatives and information overload issues. Every minute we receive a huge amount of
various information, which we select according certain criteria. Templates, schemes,
typical examples, images and especially stereotypes play a particularly important role in
our lives. Some stereotypes may be partly true, but given too much weight. Others are

only tools of hostility or anger which is transferred to objects that are not the real reason
of their feelings."1
At all times prejudice and clichs, establishing norms of human behaviour
existed. Different groups of people had to adapt to created stereotypes, if they wanted to
adapt to society. Public prejudice against a particular nationality, race, hair colour,
profession or gender can be considered as an example. Clichs make people's
relationships easier and have an impact to the changes of their behaviour; however, they
also destroy the sense of individuality and unique ideas. As a result, people become
grey mass with some distinctive features, which are typical for certain races or nations:
black women, Asian men, Americans, English, redheads or brunettes etc.
Some people describe prejudice as a negative attitude to a person only because
he/she belongs to a particular group of people. Others claim that the negative attitude to
a certain group of people is caused by the lack of information. The basis of prejudice
can be the human race, weight, gender, language, religion or any other characteristics
which can be considered as differences.
Prejudice is closely associated with the stereotype since it forms a priori opinion
about a certain group of people or nation. So, prejudice is a subjective evaluation of
objects importance according our needs.
The concept of the stereotype as a social concept was first used by W. Lippmann
(1922 in a book "Public opinion"), which defined stereotypes as simplified approach
adopted in advance, which is not derived from the humans personal experience.
Stereotype is a fortress, protecting our traditions. Stereotypes influence the formation of
a new empirical experience.
Stereotypes are beliefs or thoughts that put people into a group. These beliefs or
thoughts may not always reflect reality, but it is supposed that some special features
exist in a particular group or class of people. In other words, stereotype is a mental
process that simplifies our ideas in our minds. The reasons of stereotypes may highly be
related with culture. People tend to choose the culture as they define and perceive the
situations or events according to the stereotypes that are shaped with their culture. As
stereotypes are based on unreal thoughts they mostly include negativity. (Karabayevve
Tutkun, 2001).

Giddens A. Sociologija,-Kaunas, 2005, p. 241

According to Leyens (1996), stereotypes are a set of shared beliefs concerning

personal characteristics, personality traits and often the behaviors of a group of
people . Stereotypes are a generalization affecting a category of person. They may be
simplistic or even totally incorrect, positive ( women are sweet ) or negative
( women are bad drivers ). Stereotypes typically involve members of a category,
which you do not belong to, but not always: its what we call autostereotypes.
Mutlu1 defines stereotype as a belief about the character or behaviour of a
member of a group.
Dortier defines stereotype (2006: 175) in his Human Science Dictionary:
"stereotypes are fixed images that refer a human group (Americans are individualists,
the French like to complain, and so on). [...] Social Psychology consider that the notion
of stereotypes is a social construction. He gives examples, like fireman are heroes and
this is a stereotype produced by the group. They have got an identity function that
allows a group to define himself (in a positive or negative way) relatively to others.
From literature (Lippman, 1922; Leyens, 1996, Deschamps e Moliner, 2008) ,
we define a stereotype as a set of shared beliefs held by members of a group, related to
standardized mental pictures that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudiced
attitude, or uncritical judgment, concerning personal characteristics, personality traits
and often the behaviors of another group of people.
What defines also the stereotype by many authors is its consensual dimension
and also the idea of simplification and the fact that they describe people quickly. They
lead to social categorization2, which is one of the reasons for prejudice attitudes (i.e.
them and us mentality) which lead to in-groups and out-groups.
Stereotype is also defined in social sciences as the beliefs about a social group,
mental constructions that categorize the people according to their kinds and types and
the inflexible rigid schematic and generally wrong cognitive forms.
Comparing all these definitions of stereotype, it can be concluded that in various
authors opinions, stereotype is a simplified form of behaviour, image, schematic
understanding about a certain group of people. Stereotypes are common to all people, so
having a certain part of the truth (as they are often inaccurate), we can predict certain
behaviour or way of thinking.
A stereotype is ambiguous. It divides the world into two categories - the known

http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html

and the unknown. This, what is known become synonymous with - good, that, what is
not known - bad.3
Objective reasons which lead to stereotypes, determine the negative public
attitude towards certain social groups. There are three of them-fold: political - legal,
social - economic and cultural - psychological.4
There are also subjective reasons it is a personal experience, when a person
feels worse than others and as a result experiences social isolation.
Stereotypes are really rich in concepts and definitions. Some people understand
them in one way, others- in another way, but common perception of stereotypes of each
person is very similar. Stereotypes are a simplified form of behaviour, image, schematic
understanding about a certain group of people. Stereotypes are common to all people, so
having a certain part of the truth (as they are often inaccurate), we can predict certain
behaviour or way of thinking.
Prejudice and stereotyping are biases that work together to create and maintain
social inequality. Prejudice refers to the attitudes and feelingswhether positive or
negative and whether conscious or non-consciousthat people have about members of
other groups. In contrast, stereotypes have traditionally been defined as specific beliefs
about a group, such as descriptions of what members of a particular group looks like,
how they behave, or their abilities.
It is possible to find different definitions of prejudice. For instance, prejudice is
defined (by Atkinson ve di.,2002:720) as a prior negative thought, idea or attitude
towards somebody or something without having enough information about a person, an
event or a situation and without having enough proof. For example, if you watch only a
short part of a film and say it is bad, it is a prejudice. Prejudices may be either positive
or negative. Prejudices include both emotional and intellectual elements. Moreover,
overgeneralisation and undervaluing the interpersonal differences are something related
with prejudices. Prejudices may not always be reflected to the behaviours. Prejudices
may be against sex, race, age, handicapped or mentally retarded people. (Budak, 2003:
567; Ccelolu, 2000: 543-549; erifveerif, 1996: 662-668).
The notion of discrimination defines any difference, exclusion, restriction or
preference on the basis of criteria such as race, nationality, ethnic group, language,
3

Kazdin A. Encyclopedia of Psychology // American Psychology Association: Oxford University. 2000.

Vol. 7, p. 466.
4
Melnikien R. Tradicinisvisuomenspoiris motersvaidmeneimojeirsocialin
atskirtis // Tiltai. 2005, NR. 5.

religion, social category, beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, physical and psychical
disabilities, chronic diseases, HIV infection, as well as any other criterion, which has as
its main aim to restrict freedom of choice and basic human rights. Discrimination is a
form of behaviour. The Italian researchers Dora Copozzo and Chiara Volpato (1996)
claim that discrimination is closely related to stereotypes, being the negative aspects of
prejudgements.
Nowadays, stereotypes can take different forms, ranging from expressing hatred
openly to subtler actions, like the conviction that the members of a group that they are
not at all affected by ethnic discrimination and therefore they should not benefit from
certain facilities, conviction which is usually associated with a negative attitude towards
the members of the respective group.
There are researchers who claim that all people have prejudgments, which at
their very best take the shape of tendency to favour certain groups. Experts agree that
stereotypes are shaped starting from early childhood.

I.3. Review of Domain Literature

However, most of stereotypes do not reflect reality. The studies and the research
done in the field, pointed out that in the majority of cases people are wrong in the
opinions they have about the features of a certain group. Human beings show a high
predisposition to develop stereotypes, towards groups that they have never met or got
into contact with.
In Romania, stereotypes, prejudgements and discriminatory behaviours were the
topic of numerous PhD papers and studies published in scientific journals.
Unfortunately, few authors made their work public under de form of printed books or
guides for good practices. However, the Romanian society as a whole, tries hard to
eliminate any type of stereotypes and prejudgements.
Liana Ganeas and Alexandru Badut Ulmeanu published, in 2007, a study on
national minorities and the stereotypes encountered in the Romanian mass-media. The
two authors managed to point out that lots of stereotypes connected to national
minorities were perpetuated by the press.
In her paper entitled Overcoming Cultural Stereotypes. The Image of the Other
in Travelling Diaries and Notes, Eva Monica Szekely, tried to identify new ways for
10

intercultural communication, by overcoming the barriers created by stereotypes. The

authoress analyses in her study an age old stereotype that characterises the Romanian
territory the Balkanism, a term which took shape in the 19th century, in order to point
out the economic, social and cultural differences between Western and Eastern Europe.
Szekely claims that lots of researchers consider cultural stereotypes difficult to
overcome, because they are transmitted from one generation to the other. She also
believes that most foreigners perceive Romania as an ambiguous, incomprehensible,
hybrid and frontier area, at the crossroad between European and oriental culture.
In his works, Mr Leonaviius claims that stereotypes are a simplified schematic,
emotionally coloured image of some object which exists in public consciousness5.
According to L. Broom, stereotype - is a simplified image of a group and its members,
often based on prejudice.5 According to A. Giddens, stereotypes are established and
inflexible descriptions of groups of people.6
V. Pruskus7 stated that the appearance of stereotype is related with two essential
factors. The first is the unconscious (instinctive) collective recycling, and the second is
individual socio-cultural environment in which the mass media create a purposeful
ideological effect, an example could be various advertisements: if you want to be like
that, you must purchase and use exactly that product.
Karabayevve Tutkun, (2001) consider that in stereotyping there is not a concern
about the realities of the images. If a person has an image and then realizes that it isnt
like that in reality, it is thought that it is just an exception and the doesnt tend to change
his idea. The characteristics of stereotypes are as follows:
they are the results of public culture and they are based on ordinary knowledge.
they tell about an approximate or emotional situation and they can be
characterised as standard judgement. They are transferred from generation to
generation.
they are produced as a result of our personal tendencies, from society or
traditions.
stereotypes are generally wrong and negative judgements and images; for
example: the Warrior Irish, Emotional Italians or Mysterious Eastern. There are

D. Petkeviien ,,Senatvs vaizdiai ir stereotipai iniasklaidoje, 2005

A. Giddens Sociologija, 2005, 241p.
7
Valdas Pruskus ,,Stereotipai ir j devizualizacija tarpkultrinje komunikacijoje, 2010
6

11

also positive stereotypes; for instance: The French women are intellectuals.
American women are cheerful.
Stereotypes are partly simple information about a country or a nation and they
show the situations as real even though they are unreal. Moreover, stereotypes tend to
turn subjective thoughts into objective situations.
Stereotypes are used in daily language frequently as oral expression forms.
Kartar (2000). a.g.e., s. 195-196), categorises stereotypes into three groups:
1. Simple verbal forms that are used as adjectives.
2. Some more complicated forms of stereotypes used as sentences
3. Some anecdotes, stories, tales or legends that include stereotypes.
Especially folk tales that include stereotypes provide them transfer from one
generation to the other culturally and as a result the stereotypes become durable.
In his studies, Hortasu (1998), claims that even though stereotypes and
prejudices are cognitive and emotional processes, they cause important results as they
affect judgements and behaviours. They are so resistant to change as they are the results
of peoples thinking categorically. The information about a person may be suitable or
unsuitable with the stereotypes related with the group that person belongs to. In such a
situation the information related with the stereotype is recognised and the other
knowledge is forgotten.

I.4. Fighting against Stereotypes through Laws and Projects

In Romania, the fight against stereotypes and discrimination is a very active one,
having the purpose to change the Romanian society and turn it into a tolerant one,
within which each individual has equal chances to attain his/her own well-being. This
fact is pointed out by the numerous anti-discrimination laws, which were ratified by the
Romanian parliament and by the Government Ordinances issued by the Romanian
Government. One must not forget the projects designed and implemented by various
governmental and non-governmental institutions, with the aim to promote the Romanian
cultural values beyond our national borders and to familiarise the Romanian citizens
with the diversity and uniqueness of the traditions that characterise the culture of the
various nations which form the European universe.

12

The Government Ordinance no.137/31.08.2008 refers to the prevention and

sanctioning of all forms of discrimination. Its stipulations are completed by the
Government Decision No.1194/12.12.2001, which establishes the legal framework for
the organization and functioning of the National Council for Combating Discrimination
in Romania. Thus, the G.D. No.1194/2001 presents in a clear manner the attributions,
the structure, the organization and the functioning of the National Council for
Combating Discrimination.
A very important part in the fight against prejudices is played by the Coalition
against Discrimination, which incorporates structures that act as representatives for
various minority groups such as: national minorities, sexual minorities, people with
special physical and physical needs, people infected by HIV and many others. The aim
of this alliance is to give its members support and to allow them to fight together against
discrimination of any kind. Moreover, the coalition helps various groups to design and
implement various projects in order to help people belonging to a disfavoured category.
The project entitled Female Success, co-funded by the European Social Fund,
through the Sectoral Operational Programme for Developing Human Resources (20072013), pointed out the gender stereotypes extant within the Romanian labour
environment. The research revealed that lots of employers had discriminatory criteria
for employees selection, such as: no children, single, available to work extended hours
and during weekends.
Well-known for its intensive activity is the Roma Centre for Social Intervention
and Studies (Romani CRISS), a non-governmental organization founded in 1993,
having as main aim the protection of the social and political rights of people belonging
to the Roma minority group, living on the Romanian territory.
The CRISS organization carried out a series of studies in order to highlight the
situation of the Roma people living in Romania. The most important studies were:
Stereotypes, Prejudices and Ethnic Discrimination: Roma Perspectives (2011),
Participation, Truancy and Discrimination against Roma people in Romania (2011),
Early Marriages and the Roma Community (2009) and The Image of Roma people in
the Romanian National and Local Mass-Media (2007). CRISS implemented numerous
projects such as: Sanitary Support for Labour Market Insertion (1996), The Seminar of
Roma Women (1996), The Training of Roma Mediators (1998), Fighting against
Racism and Discrimination (2000), Fighting against Roma People Prejudices and
Changing the Image People have on Roma Culture and Traditions (2002), Steps
13

towards Tolerance (2002), The Local Network of Human Rights Monitors by Romani
CRISS (2003), Youth is Tolerance (2013), A Good Start (2013) and many others.
However, the strive to create a prejudices free society is a complex one,
comprising various aspects. Thus, numerous Romanian organizations implemented
projects that promote a tolerant behaviour. One of these was BEAMS-Freed of
Stereotypes, carried out by Peoples Development Foundation (FDP). The programme
was part of a larger BEAMS project entitled Breaking Down European Attitudes
towards Migrant/Minority Stereotypy, funded from the European Commission
programme entitled Fighting against Racism, Xenophobia and Anti-Semitism and
implemented by FDP in partnership with organizations belonging to various European
Union States, from January 2013 until December 2014.
The National Council for Combating Discrimination in Romania designed,
carried out and implemented numerous projects such as: The Immigrants
Discrimination in the Domain of Civil Rights, Challenges and Priorities of the Fight
against Discrimination, The Right to Dignity, Intercultural Dialogue and many others.
The project entitled Messengers against Discrimination had as its main purpose
the fight against discrimination and intolerance towards Roma people, by creating a
multicultural space. The unique character of this project was given by the fact that two
youth organizations (one Romani and another one Romanian) collaborated in order to
implement it. The two organizations were: GipsyEye (the Romani organization) and
Asirys (the Romanian organization).
The fight against stereotypes and discrimination was the main objective of the
project entitled The multi-regional network of services offering counselling against
discrimination and for the social insertion of discriminated people, which was carried
out from September 2009 until September 2011. The project also comprised a study on
gender equality in Romania.
The Debate, Oratory and Rhetoric Regional Association (ARDOR) in Muntenia
and the Together Agency for Community Development organised the programme
entitled SHUKAR Club- Arguments against Discrimination, on the 30th of September
2014. Through this programme, the organizers and their guests helped twenty young
Roma people living in Bucharest to become vocal actors against discriminatory facts.

14

I.5. Fighting against Stereotypes at an Individual Level

We can all bring our contribution to the fight against intolerance. A very
important part is played by our own decision to act and to encourage others to follow
our example. The first step is to recognize that we are all prisoners of our own
experiences. Maybe, we will never be able to fully eliminate all prejudgements, but we
can recognize them and we can control our impulsive reactions towards other people
who are different from us. This can lead to the gradual elimination of prejudgements.
The reduction of the number of prejudgements extant at the society level should
be the aim of each one of us. There are a series of rules which can be followed in order
to succeed in our fight against prejudgements of any type. Some of these rules are:
1. Admit that you have wrong opinions about other groups of people.
2. Confront, but without self-judgement, the stereotypes which you learnt or which
were implemented into your conscience by others.
3. Gather information in order to gainsay any dangerous thought.
4. Spend more time with people belonging to the group(s) towards which you have
developed certain prejudgements.
5. Find out the opinion of other groups on your own identity group.
It is true that human beings are different from one another due to their age, race,
nationality and religion, but we all have something in common- the right to live in
dignity as human beings. We have to promote actions that fight against violence, abuse,
ignorance and hatred, because these actions are fundamental for liberty, justice and
peace. We have to assume them in order to be able to live in a world freed of
discrimination.
Stereotypes and prejudgements can be changed through:
1. Identifying representatives of the group towards which stereotypes have been
formed and who infirm the stereotype.
2. Finding important and relevant information about the respective group and all its
specific moral values and cultural norms.
3. Motivating individuals who want to understand in a correct manner the
respective group.
4. Involvement in activities which have a common goal.

15

5. Identification of our own stereotypes and prejudgements in order to set the basis
for a genuine and long term communication between various cultural groups;
this also represents the first step towards tolerance and development of new
perspectives on the cultural groups with which we interact.
Each one of us labels or has certain stereotypes at one point or another. They are
dangerous because they prevent us from seeing reality as it truly is.

I.6. Fighting Discrimination in Schools

What can we do when we are the witnesses of intolerant and discriminatory
behaviour?
First, we have to take into consideration the victims complaint and treat it with
utmost seriousness. Therefore, it is important for students to have friendly means of
communication, which can be used to signal such situations.
The teacher has to react immediately, offering the victim the necessary support
and assistance. The schooling institution must provide medical care, if necessary, while
the school counsellor must be immediately alerted. The teacher has to ask promptly
relevant questions to the students and other teachers who have witnessed the incident,
so as not to omit important details and information.
It is dangerous to believe that no action is necessary and the problem will be
solved as time passes by. The intolerant behaviour will continue, even more violently, if
appropriate measures are not taken. The teacher has to clearly explain to both witnesses
and victims the legal terms of his/her intervention.

I.7. How to prevent Discriminatory Behaviour in Schools

The incidents generated by discriminatory behaviour point out that prevention
measures must be implemented in schools. These measures should be established by the
entire school community, students and their parents included.
The following lines contain a brief presentation of anti-discriminatory measures
which have proven their efficacy in schools world-wide:

16

1. Developing a secure and constructive environment, which encourages

discussion on sensitive topics; these discussion and debates must unfold according to a
series of rules, such as: all participants are talked to in a respectful manner, the opinions
can be criticised but people who express them cannot, all decisions must be take on the
basis of solid arguments, all participants must be given the opportunity to express their
opinions and thoughts, asking questions is an encouraged practice.
2. Establishing a code of conduct, which must incorporate the stipulations
referring to discrimination and intolerance within an institution providing formal
education.
3. Encouraging students to take part into discussion and debates, either with the
help of the school counsellor or through the students council.
4. Strengthening the school-family partnership by asking the parents help in
organizing the curricular and extracurricular activities, which are related to the fight
against discrimination.
5. Helping the students who belong to the vulnerable groups, in accordance with
their needs.
6. Organizing activities which can stimulate the students introspection and their
critical thinking, such as: debates, case studies, describing life experiences, active
involvement in campaigns which promote a tolerant behaviour, analysing the
stereotypes present in mass-media, using arts to express feelings (theatre plays, concerts
and painting).

I.8. Ways to fight against stereotypes

Ways to fight against stereotypes are a serious concern. Hidasi (2000: 120)
refers that in UNESCO, there is a serious thinking of elaborating some new laws that
would forbid using stereotypes in guide books (c.f. Die Zeit)." For Hidasi (2000, idem)
citing Claude Levi-Strauss, cultural diversity is behind us, around us and before us.
We need to work on intercultural literacy and to raise the intercultural competence of
the students and teachers. Most people tend to generalize very quickly, however there is
a great variety of individuals and groups, that make it very difficult to generalize.
The UNESCO studies (1951) showed some conclusions about national
stereotypes: they are dangerous and affect the behavior and the way people act; they can
17

have some parts true but they can be completely wrong; they are learned through media,
they are changeable and influenced by economic and politic situation of the country; the
topic must be treated by education and fight against the way of thinking through
stereotypes.
On the web we find websites with solutions to fight against national stereotypes,
nevertheless not enough literature to justify the actions or research done on the topic.
Information about each other
Stereotypes are a serious concern and it is important to learn to understand each
other in order to reduce them, get more information about some countries and people.
Our partners need to make themselves understood and learn to cooperate. It's a great
task for teachers and students.
James (UNESCO, 1951) from London Institute of Education, in his article about
The attitude toward foreigners described some interviews with young English
children and explained that the human contacts are essential for the formation of their
attitudes toward foreigners.
Contact hypothesis
For Stangor et al (1996: 664), The most important theory regarding stereotype
change within social psychology is the contact hypothesis (Amir, 1969; Hewstone &
Brown, 1986; Stephan, 1985). This hypothesis proposes that people's attitudes toward,
and stereotypes of social groups are determined, to a major extent, by the experiences
they have with individual members of those groups, and that such contact will, at least
under certain conditions, lead to more positive intergroup perceptions.
1. The contact hypothesis suggest that the contact with other cultures augment our
knowledge and comprehension of others, thus it will help to have attitudes less
negatives regarding members from other groups. However, studies showed that only the
contact is not enough (sherif, 1966). Some condition must exist to reduce prejudice as
said Allport, 1954 in his book The Nature of Prejudice: the contact must happened in a
situation of cooperation in order to archive a main goal and members from different
groups must help each other to reach the objective.
2. The attributes of the members of the group must go against the stereotype, otherwise
there will be a consolidation of the stereotype.
3. The members of the group need to know each other very well to get enough
information about the other to consider him as a person and not as a member of a group
with characteristics' stereotype.
18

4. The contact between groups must be integrated in an official political cultural

integration, for example to fight against racial prejudice.
5. In a contact situation, the groups must have a statue of equal otherwise we
consolidate negative attitude that exist.
Contact hypothesis is an important one. It is now well known that contact is
likely to produce attitude change when participants from both groups have equal status,
the outgroup members have characteristics that disconfirm previously held stereotypes,
the contact situation allows individuals to get to know each other, and the situation
encourages cooperation between group members (Cook, 1984; Rothbart& John, 1985;
Stephan, 1985; Stroebe, Lenkert, & Jonas, 1988). (idem).
Common goal / cooperation
Several researchers (Sherif, 1965; Ryen, 1975; Johnson, 1983), indicated that
intergroup cooperation may reduce prejudices and discrimination, but a common goal is
needed and if they succeed in this mission the relation between the two group improve
(Worchel, 1977).
This is purpose of Erasmus+, we have a common goal with four school doing a
project to fight against stereotypes.
The role of the emotions
Some techniques may be used in order to improve attitudes towards a specific
person of other group or members of ex-group. One technique is to put in place of other
(Finley & Stephan, 2000) or to imagine what somebody feels in a situation. Research
reveal that empathy can reduce prejudice.
We can summarize that literature says that intergroup contact affect changes in
attitudes and stereotypes. In addition, increasing contact is a way to influence the
relationship between people. Stangor et al (1996) refer that increased contact with
group members might result in the different components of the beliefs becoming more
strongly inter-associated.
In order to optimize the generalization of positive judgment to all the group, the
contact must reinforce the group membership of an individual. Hewston and Brown
(1986) refer that if the contact is between two persons and not two groups, the positive
attitude may not be generalized to all the group. The lack of generalization also may be
considered as exception the positive contact between individuals (Pettigrew, 1979).

19