Definition: Prejudice is a baseless and usually negative attitude toward members of a group. Common features of prejudice include negative feelings, stereotyped beliefs, and a tendency to discriminate against members of the group.
New research by Princeton University's Susan Fiske, PhD, indicates that emotions such as pity, envy, disgust and pride may play a bigger role. In fact, according to Fiske's research, these emotions appear tied not only to people's prejudicial ideas about social, cultural and religious "outgroups" they don't belong to but also to discriminatory behavior.
The types discriminatory behavior prejudice can spur include excluding and harming others, Fiske said. She and her colleagues have also found evidence that emotional prejudices of pity, envy, disgust and pride exist across cultures.
The martial arts transend across all cultures, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds. They are practiced all over the world. Therefore, in the martial arts, the "outgroup" is "people with disabilities".
Pity, Envy, Disgust, and Pride displayed by prejudiced individuals in the martial arts.
Pity - Individuals with prejudice look upon the disabled as pitiful.
Envy - Individuals with prejudice envy the disabled for any attention they receive for their accomplishments.
Disgust - Individuals with prejudice have feeling of disgust towards people with disabilities.
Pride - Individuals with prejudice feel that allowing the disabled to participate in the martial arts lowers the pride of being in an elite or exclusive club.