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Benevolent prejudice is a superficially positive prejudice that is expressed in terms of positive beliefs and emotional responses, which are associated with hostile prejudices or result in keeping affected groups in inferior positions in society. Benevolent prejudice can be expressed towards those of different race, religion, ideology, country, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity.

Some of the earliest and most notable studies on benevolent prejudice were conducted by the researchers Susan Fiske and Peter Glick, with the primary focus of their research being the issue of sexism. Benevolent prejudice derives from their studies on ambivalent sexism, claiming that there are two main types of sexist attitudes: hostile and benevolent sexism.

The term benevolent sexism eventually broadened into benevolent prejudice, with one of the earliest uses of the term being in a study by Susan Fiske and Peter Glick that focused on benevolent and hostile sexism across cultures.

Sexism across cultures
An experiment run by Glick and Fiske Et al. aimed to measure benevolent and hostile sexism across various countries and cultures. The study found that in countries where the levels of hostile sexism were high, the levels of benevolent sexism were also high. Researchers claimed that “the strength of these correlations supports the idea that HS and BS act as complementary forms of sexism.” This was exemplified in countries such as Cuba and Nigeria, where men scored higher on sexism, resulting in a higher hostile and benevolent sexism score amongst women; therefore, the results in those countries provided “evidence consistent with the notion that disadvantaged groups adopt the system-justifying beliefs of dominant groups.”

Media literacy and stereotyping
An experiment run by Srividya Ramasubramanian and Mary Beth Oliver aimed to measure the reduction in prejudice in their participants. In the experiment, participants were to watch a media literacy video, then proceed to read stereotypical and counter-stereotypical news stories about African Americans, Asian-Indians, and Caucasian-Americans. The participants were then prompted to fill out a questionnaire regarding their feelings about the aforementioned groups. The results revealed that the participants were more likely to display benevolent prejudice towards the Asian-Indian group, than to the Caucasian-American or African American group. Benevolent prejudice towards Asian-Indians was seen as a result of the cultural stereotypes associated with the group, such as passivity and deprivation, thus the results were “consistent with the argument that benevolent feelings stem from notions of superiority of dominant groups over subordinate groups seen as incompetent, yet sociable.”