While many of us may like to believe that our society today, as we know it, has advanced in many ways beyond the thoughts and beliefs of the colonial era and of slavery, unfortunately this is not the case. In many ways, public policy and social beliefs may have changed in ways that make us believe that prejudice and racism are on the decline, but in the sad reality, the ideologies associated with the two are no longer socially acceptable. According to Tetlock and Mitchell (2008), 75% of the more than one million whites who took the IAT (Implicit Association Test), which tests the propensity to discriminate against target groups in a variety of ways and contexts, obtained unconscious biases against of African Americans. Americans. Therefore, those who have long favored what these ideas represent continue to harbor such feelings and simply keep them hidden, expressing their true nature in private or among those with whom they feel comfortable sharing that type of information, until in the end something doesn't happen that triggers an outburst. Case in point: Mel Gibson's infamous drunken, racist outburst that occurred a few years ago. However, even before the 1980s, when the War on Drugs was declared at a time when drug use and crime were in decline, the policy was intended to target poor black neighborhoods, and since then the policy public has shaped ideas of prejudice and racism. A more recent example is the Muslim ban implemented by President Trump. This leads to the question of what causes bias and how can we try to reduce it even slightly? The following briefly examines these questions and offers research insights into answers to these questions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Prejudice and racism are so ingrained in our society that, in many ways, most people don't even recognize the subtle ways in which this is true. This can be observed almost daily, depending on where you live, through racial and ethnic jokes from those who are often unaware of the offensive nature of the context. The media contributes to the promotion of stereotypes that fuel racist prejudices and ideologies. Furthermore, since the media exerts an implicit influence on the subconscious, the message is not conveyed through words but through images. For example, let's take mostly any anti-drug advertisement. Anti-drug ads unfortunately tend to feature poor people of color appearing in poor health in desperate situations. Prejudice develops as a response to perceived threat from others, whether from a woman, a homosexual, or another racial/ethnic group. In this regard, it can be shaped and promoted through public policies. Beyond these apparent causes of prejudice, some sociologists argue that prejudice is formed by unconscious negative thoughts that are very difficult for a person to consciously control on an intentional level. In this regard, it can be argued that early ideologies related to prejudice and race since the founding of the United States have played a significant role in the existence and promotion of prejudice within our society because they remain a deeply rooted part of our history and of our mentality. no matter how hard we try to change this thought pattern. Many people today are inherently racist and/or prejudicial, even without realizing that they might say or do condescending things towards someone of the opposite race or color, and this (2008).