Prejudice

What is prejudice?
I think that essays along the lines of 'Explain the nature of prejudice' are among the most difficult to answer in the Higher Psychology exam. That doesn't mean that you should do badly in them - just that a bit more planning may be necessary.
The reason they are hard, is that psychological concepts - in this case prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination etc - can be difficult to define, and even experts in the field don't often agree. It should be easier to describe and evaluate a theory.
On a positive note, the Higher exam now provides some guidance to help you structure an answer. This could read as follows (source - the 2010 question paper):

• A definition of prejudice, with examples
• Cogntive, affective and behavioural aspects of prejudice
• Evaluation of research evidence on the nature of prejudice.

These are things that you are told that you "may include" suggesting that there are other equally good ways of answering the question. That might be true in principle, but you can be sure of two things:

Nearly everyone will use the structure suggested in the exam paper

and

The marking instructions will link strongly to these bullet points.

It's therefore by far the safest option to stick to the suggested headings, thinking of your essay as having three sub-sections. Here are some things to include.

• You should have a definition of prejudice ready from your revision (make sure you can define all key concepts in the Higher!) In this section, also define and explain stereotyping and discrimination, and try to make clear the difference between these three processes. Any examples can be used, but ones from your coursework which are linked in to a research or historical context are more likely to gain valuable A&E marks.
• Here you work through the three aspects of prejudice as an attitude - cognitive (thoughts), affective (feelings) and behavioural (actions). Make sure that they are fully explained, and you are making clear the differences between the three. You can use examples again, but keep them brief. Mentioning supporting research should pick up extra marks.
• Here, you should describe and evaluate your key research evidence. I suggest a detailed dicsussion of one study, plus mentioning 2-3 others more briefly. Avoid studies which very clearly link to the other two aspects of the prejudice topic (e.g. Adorno, 1950). A good choice for this question would be the Cohen (1981) study of stereotypes, or LaPiere's (1934) study of attitudes v's actions. Sherif et al (1954) could also be used.

Overall, make sure your essay is long and detailed enough to pick up the 20 marks, and ensure that you have encluded enough evaluation points, especially in that third bullet point. Supporting research studies and/or examples in the first two can also pick up A&E marks.