Prejudice is a bias against a group of people based on actions (or actions which one has heard about) from other people who are part of that group. The two essential components of prejudice are attitude and behavior. It is actually fairly difficult to distinguish these two components, since a person's attitude will inevitably influence that person's behavior. Yet a prejudice evinced by one's attitude directly relates to a shortness of patience with people in the group that such a person is prejudiced against. Additionally, one's attitude will lead one to make assumptions about the person in the group that one is prejudiced against. Ultimately, however, one's attitude will influence one's behavior towards the person who one does not like because of prejudice. That behavior can become manifest in a number of different ways, from using certain tones of voice to acts of physical violence. The attitude aspect of prejudice is largely indirect and even somewhat subliminal. However, prejudiced behavior is definitely overt and may often lead to other prejudicial behavior.
For the most part, I believe that people become prejudiced because they lack the ability to think for themselves and would rather listen to and believe stereotypes in which they do not have to do their own thinking. In this respect, certain societal constructs (such as the media) is directly related to prejudice. However, experience also plays a large part...
Linking people due to similarities in appearance, position, needs, or any other facet of life can cause someone to distinguish people in groups. Negative experiences with those people in ways that may be related to the group someone has stratified them in, or in a way in which one frequently deals with people in those groups, can also lead to prejudice. Lastly, it is worth noting that prejudice can also stem from tradition.
Issuing plaudits to others or doing them favors can be efficacious means of inducing them to like you. I believe that these tactics are usually best rewarded during the beginning stages of a relationship with someone. In fact, I am certain that this strategy is particularly valuable when getting to know someone has romantic feelings towards and finds physically attractive. However, once a relationship progresses well beyond the superficialities of its beginning stages, cursory praise and actions to purposefully get someone to like another are no longer necessary. They may even be perceived as annoyances, or, more than likely, indicators that the one of the people involved in such a relationship is in fact superficial. Due to this perception of superficiality, one might even come to dislike someone who is repeatedly acting like the proverbial "yes man," instead of offering genuine insight -- not all of which may (or need) be positive. Criticism is certainly…
