As part of the series of Esteem Lectures announced by the University of Kent for its 50th anniversary year Professor Dominic Abrams, Director of the School of Psychology’s internationally esteemed Centre for the Study of Group Processes, will give a lecture entitled “The Pride and Prejudice of Leaders and their Groups: Social Competition, Social Control and Tests of Tolerance”.
The lecture will examine the social and psychological basis of prejudice and the question of why people reject or include one another from their social groups. Drawing on a range of examples from politics and business, as well as evidence from surveys and experiments, it will consider a series of interconnected questions. What values and principles determine our prejudices? What is the connection between our prejudice against outgroups and loyalty to in groups? How do children “learn the rules” of being part of a group? What role do leaders play in tempering or promoting extremism and corruption? Finally, what are the social conditions that can promote a more harmonious and progressive society?
The lecture will take place on Wednesday 25 March at 6pm in Grimond Lecture Theatre 1. Admission is free and open to all.