Prejudice is a Form of Guessing

I propose a definition of prejudice as any preconceived opinion or belief about a subject solely based on their membership within a specific group, with little to no individual assessment. In this writing, I shall make the argument that prejudice is intrinsically a variant of guessing and demonstrate this using two postulated scenarios.

Scenario 1: A chess team is constituent of chess players of varying skill levels: B, C, D, E, F, and G, all of whom are beginner chess players below the playing level of an individual A such that if A plays with them, A is destined to win; and H, I, J, K, L, and M, all of whom are advanced players above the playing level of A such that if A plays with them, A is destined to lose. Person A selected random players from the team to play against. Coincidentally, A selected B, C, D, E, F, and G first. A played with B, C, and D, and won with ease. A proceeds to play with E, F, and G and won, again, with ease. A then concludes that every player on the chess team is at a level significantly lower than A's. Next, coincidentally, A selected H, I, J, K, L, and M, and also believes that he will win the games with ease.

Scenario 2: A group of aliens from another planet are visiting Earth for the first time. The aliens will meet a government official from Earth and have a short conversation with him. In this group of aliens, half would be considered hostile by the government official and half would be considered unfriendly and is planning to take over Earth by ending the human civilization. Coincidentally, the first aliens to meet the government official were the ones whom the government official would consider as friendly. The government official thus concludes that all aliens from this planet is friendly to humans and orders all guards against the aliens to be removed.

Fundamentally, A and the governmental official made an (somewhat educated) guess on certain qualities of the whole group based on their experiences with individuals who were part of that group. However, an educated guess does not suffice: the vast majority of groups are not homogenous; any educated guess about a certain quality of a group may not, and more often than not does not, imply that it is true of every individual in the group.

A common example of prejudice in modern society is racism, the discrimination against all individuals of a certain cultural background and/or skin color. This issue can be addressed in a similar way: a large amount of individuals from one group exhibiting a certain quality does not imply that all individuals from the group exhibit that quality; any precautions, actions, or treatment before any assessment of an individual beyond their (perceived) cultural background and/or skin color is, fundamentally, a guess game.