Due to their lineage and common semantic core, many people confuse concepts such as beliefs and prejudices. The paradox is that the usual prefix “pre” seriously changes the meaning and emotional tone of the word. It is not known who to blame for the fact that the level of education in society is slowly but steadily declining, but now you can already hear from a prejudiced person that he has every right to his own beliefs, this makes him a whole person. Substitution of concepts and blurring of the boundaries lead to an increase in misunderstanding, so you should understand what is prejudice, in what sense this word should be used, and what emotional load it carries.
The meaning of the word "prejudice"
According to dictionaries, prejudice is a pre-formed negative opinion and attitude towards something or towards someone. The peculiarity of this phenomenon is that a prejudiced person does not need arguments, does not want to find out the truth and is in his own world, where the image of the enemy is most successfully chosen, against which it is necessary to actively fight in every possible way.
Another nuance that most fully reveals the question of what is prejudice is that in the vast majority of cases there is an imposed foreign opinion. That is, a prejudiced person has never encountered a hated phenomenon, but he accepted the opinion of others on faith and made it his own. No less often generalization is observed. For example, if a dog has bitten a person, he has a prejudice that all dogs are dangerous creatures that only dream to bite people, and dog owners secretly hate others, otherwise they would not keep these dangerous animals at home.
Who can be called biased?
It is easy to confuse confusion and prejudice. If a person sincerely absorbed a wrong idea, but is ready to learn new things, to test in practice whether the condemned phenomenon is really so vicious, or at least learns the opinions of experts and recognizes the right of opponents not to share his thoughts, then most likely this is a mistake. These are related concepts, the border between which is in the emotional sphere, and not in an academic interpretation.
What is prejudice? First of all, it is peremptory. No facts will help to convince a person, and even if you directly encounter him with the positive manifestations of the object of rejection, the mind clinging to prejudice will instantly declare that this is only an exception that confirms the rule.
How do beliefs differ from prejudices?
Having beliefs is logical and correct, because a person without beliefs is weak. What does this little prefix do before, how does it shift the emphasis in the negative direction? Beliefs in most cases are based on human experience. They do not have to relate to some high matters, many beliefs relate to everyday life.
For example, we are convinced that you need to brush your teeth regularly. Why? Mom taught this from early childhood, we can see from our own experience that if you do not brush your teeth, you will get bad breath, your teeth look bad, and caries develops faster. Therefore, this is a conviction confirmed by the experience and recommendations of dentists.
What is prejudice in the same field? If the grandmother says that enamel comes off from brushing your teeth, then this is precisely what prejudice is. Similar mythology thrives on unverified rumors and distorted information. Developing the same example: someone told how a friend of his relative was brushing his teeth, and his enamel was erased, all at the same time, from all his teeth. In practice, it often turns out that we were talking about one tooth with damaged enamel against the background of abuse of abrasive cleaners. But prejudice has already run into the people, overgrown with terrible details.
Bias and prejudice
Most dictionaries in the interpretation mention all relevant synonyms. We open the explanatory dictionary and see: "prejudice - which means bias or susceptibility to prejudice." If a person is familiar with these definitions, it will be easier for him to understand the essence of the concept. If a person is said to be biased and biased, it means that he is subject to prejudice. In a broad sense, these words are indeed synonymous.
Relevance of the use of the word
Despite the fact that this concept has a negative emotional connotation, you can safely use it in official speech, in correspondence, in almost any circles. There is a slang analogue with a slightly more vague meaning - “troubles” or “zabubon”, these words have a similar meaning. “Prejudice” is a more correct way to inform your opponent that he is not completely right, while not degrading his dignity, not giving value judgments and not entering into confrontation. Calling someone’s private opinion a prejudice, we recognize a person’s right to this opinion, indicating that it is biased, not true, and therefore cannot be considered exemplary.