discrimination

Meaning: Discrimination is the behavioral part of intergroup bias: treating people differently, usually unfairly, because of their group, such as race, sex, age, religion or social class. A stereotype is a belief (cognitive) and prejudice is an attitude (affective); discrimination is the action. It can be individual, like a manager refusing to hire someone, or institutional, where policies produce unequal outcomes across groups even without personal hostility, as in redlining.

On the MCAT: Passages describe a hiring audit, housing data or unequal school discipline, and you label each item as stereotype, prejudice or discrimination, or as individual versus institutional. Merton's typology crosses attitude with behavior, and LaPiere's hotel study showed that stated attitudes did not match behavior. Expect links to power, stratification and unequal access to resources.

Common confusion: Prejudice and discrimination often occur together but can come apart: a prejudiced person may not act on the attitude, and an unprejudiced person may follow a discriminatory policy. Ask whether the item is a thought, a feeling or an action. Also do not confuse it with stimulus discrimination in learning, which is responding differently to similar stimuli.