Mentors Comments:

• First part of the answer should outline the strategy to manage such situations and a course of action to prevent such incidents in future.
• Second part of the answer should bring out the use of emotional intelligence in these kinds of circumstances.
• The third part of the answer should outline factors (emotional and attitudinal) which flame racial hatred.
• Also, analyze them in brief.

Answer:

a) Strategy to manage such situations:

Immediate Action:

• Empathetic listening to their grievances.
• Promise to take strict actions in future.
• Promise of fair trial.\
• More police patrolling in neighbourhoods having a high presence of members from North East Community.
• New helpline for distress calls.

These actions would help in rebuilding the trust and faith among the North East communities and people protesting.

Plan for the future:

• Legal awareness campaigns in neighbourhoods that have a significant presence of members from the North East community and on introducing lectures on legal rights for university students.
• Social media can be used for improving connectivity and communication with the community. A dedicated Facebook page can be created and nodal police officers should be in constant touch with members of the community on WhatsApp.
• Sports can be used to increase the bonding between people of different communities.

b) What is the use of emotional intelligence in such situations? 

Emotional intelligence is the use of emotions to guide thinking and behaviour and preventing being overwhelmed by them. It enables us to recognize and regulate emotions of our own self and that of others. The situation given in the question asks for emotional intelligence to manage the emotions aggrieved students group.

• An emotionally intelligent person will understand the feelings of the outraged public by understanding the reasons behind it. Also, understanding those reasons one is in a better off position to make bonding with the aggrieved party and build trust. It will sooth their impulse and bring rationality in behaviour.
• Emotional intelligence will help him to cope with stressful situations.
• Becoming more aware of emotional triggers that can instigate an angry violent response.

As empathy is one of the core elements of emotional intelligence. It helps in caring. An empathetic attitude will help to tone down impulses and alleviate the suffering of the minorities.

(c) What are the social and attitudinal factors responsible for racial discrimination. 

Emotional and Attitudinal factors:

• Prejudice: A negative attitude toward an individual based on his or her membership in a religious, racial, ethnic, political, or other group. Racism is a specific form of prejudice, involving prejudicial attitudes or behaviour towards members of an ethnic group. Prejudice has cognitive, affective, and behavioural components. Based on beliefs, it can affect one’s emotions and behaviour, sometimes leading to discrimination.
• Stereotyping: It is attributing a series of traits to individuals based on the one trait that signals their membership in a particular group. By definition, stereotypes are limiting and disregarding people’s individuality. They also lend themselves to negative and derogatory assumptions.
• Social categorization: In social categorization, we place people into categories. People also reflexively distinguish members of in-groups (groups of which the subject is a member) from members of out-groups. Furthermore, people tend to evaluate out-groups more negatively than in-groups. In this way, social categories easily lend themselves to stereotypes in general and to negative stereotypes in particular.
• Discrimination: Discrimination is generally understood as biased behaviour, which includes not only actions that directly harm or disadvantage another group, but those that unfairly favour one’s own group.
• Self Esteem: People sometimes use prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviour to boost their own self-esteem. When people’s self-esteem is threatened, prejudicial actions such as racism appear to restore esteem.
• Dominance: Racism may be driven by dominance motives. Evolutionary psychologists argue that humans, like many other primates, are hierarchical animals. To have a hierarchy, there must be status differences between people. Racism helps preserve status differences because it oppresses minority groups.
• Survival: Prejudice and racism, in particular, may be driven, in part, by basic survival motives. Humans evolved as a species that thrives in groups, and groups compete over scarce resources.
• Fear: People often fear groups that they do not understand. Fear of ‘other’ can easily lead to discrimination, rejection, hatred, etc.
• Impulse: People generally react with impulse against people of different groups

Lack of Empathy (Cultural sensitivity): Lack of cultural sensitivity is the root cause of such attacks and discriminations.