Allport’s Prejudiced Personality Today: Need for Closure as the Motivated Cognitive Basis of Prejudice

摘要

In the long history of psychological research on prejudice, Allport’s (1954) book The Nature of Prejudice is undoubtedly the foundational work, advancing ideas that remain highly influential and relevant to this day. Guided by the seminal ideas of this leading scholar, we illustrate how contemporary psychological research has accumulated evidence for a basic, motivated cognitive style underlying prejudice in its different forms. Specifically, we demonstrate that Allport’s classic conception of this basic cognitive style is exceptionally well captured by the contemporary construct of need for cognitive closure (NFC), and we review the recent evidence for NFC effects on racism and sexism. Integrating Allport’s writings with contemporary research, we also show that the effects of motivated cognition on prejudice are explained (i.e., mediated) by essentialist thinking and authoritarian ideology. Finally, we discuss recent evidence indicating that, in contrast to Allport’s pessimistic predictions, intergroup contact is especially effective in reducing prejudice among people high in NFC. It is concluded that recent research on NFC provides a solid empirical basis for Allport’s hypothesis that a general motivated cognitive style lies at the basis of prejudice.