ASP: Prejudice and prejudice reduction

Question 1

Reducing prejudice: Socialisation Approach

Answer 1

Children’s attitudes reflect those of the community (Nesdale, 2004) so the aim of this approach is to use sources of prejudice in the community (eg: tv) to encourage positive intergroup relations instead, eg: sesame street. Mixed findings for this approach from different studies.

Question 2

Why do socialisation interventions fail?

Answer 2

Not based on recent psychological research
Idea that children are ‘passive recipients’ of information and ‘soak up information’ (eg: learning theory approach)
People forget, distort or ignore information that contradicts existing attitudes (Neuberg, 1996)
Often focuses on cultural differences than similarities
Unconscious negative feelings are stronger predictors of prejudice than beliefs (eg: Tropp & Pettigrew, 1995)

Question 3

Emotional empathy

Answer 3

Experiencing the feelings of another person

Question 4

Cognitive empathy

Answer 4

Understanding the world view of another person and being able to ‘walk in their shoes’