Diversity

Question 1

What is diversity?

Answer 1

The presence of difference within a group setting

Question 2

What is inclusion?

Answer 2

Those with different identities feeling valued, leveraged and welcomed within a group setting

Question 3

What could a lack of diverse representation cause?

Answer 3

Minimise erase or devalue their identity
Diminish self worth
Less engaged with learning

Question 4

Are children’s books diverse?

Answer 4

Lack of diverse representation in children’s books. The world depicted in children’s books is overwhelmingly white

Question 5

Why is diversity important for young children? What is the term ‘windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors’?

Answer 5

Validate young people’s experiences
Provide a counter-story to the versions of reality held by the privileged
‘windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors’ where minority children reading books are looking through a window into a world that isn’t their own

Question 5

What is direct contact?

Answer 5

interactions across group lines
In-person interactions
Face to face
Personal

Question 6

What is indirect contact?

Answer 6

Doesn’t require physical presence of a member of another group
Imagined contact, vicarious contact, electronic contact and extended contact

Question 6

Why is cross group contact important?

Answer 6

Reduced anxiety
More positive about interactions
More inclusive friendships
reduced prejudice and stereotyping
Increased perceived similarity

Question 7

What is vicarious contact?

Answer 7

Learning about ingroup members that have outgroup friends
e.g. reading, watching films

Question 8

What is the study for vicarious contact via story reading? What was the impact?

Answer 8

Series of 5 studies
Read ‘vicarious contact’ stories in small groups over a series of weeks
Stories featured cross-group friendships.

The impact:
More positive attitudes
More positive towards future contact
Changed social norms for cross-group friendship
Reduced anxiety

Question 9

What is narrative transportation?

Answer 9

A well-written story makes the reader feel like they are ‘in’ the story, experiencing those situations described in the story
When readers identify with the characters this helps them to leave their surroundings and enter the story’s world
Narrative transportation helps to increase perspective taking
More open and sensitive to the issues in the story
We know that in general, positive correlation between reading stories and: prosocial behaviour, interpersonal interactions, empathy.

Question 10

What did Ol’hava 2022 find about vicarious contact using the Harry Potter books?

Answer 10

Condition 1: passages + no subsequent discussion
Condition 2: reading passages + discussion
Control: no activities

Found:
Significant improvement in intergroup attitudes (feeling thermometer) in condition 2 vs control on attitudes towards Roma minority, refugees, Muslims
Narrative transportation and perspective taking important mediators

Question 11

What other research used the Harry potter books to investigate vicarious contact?

Answer 11

6 extracts from Harry Potter, events related to discrimination and prejudice
Subsequently discuss with author: if the behaviour was appropriate or not, how it feels to be stigmatized against
CONTROL: extracts from HP not relevant to discrimination

Found: more positive attitudes towards immigrants, identify with Harry Potter and less with Voldemort

Question 12

How and when does vicarious contact work via fiction?

Answer 12

Empathy
Self-efficacy
Perceived similarity
Inclusion of other in the self
Film vs books as a medium for vicarious contact
Fiction provokes a stronger emotional reaction than reading factual texts
POPULAR fiction also has a stronger effect that fiction created by researchers for an experiment
Identifying with the characters/protagonist also increases impact

Question 13

What is the parasocial contact hypothesis?

Answer 13

Contact with out-group members through the media provide same interactions necessary for challenging stereotypes and prejudice that direct contact facilitates.
Predicated upon the idea that individuals process mass-media content in the same way that they process real world interactions.
Researchers have demonstrated that higher frequency of viewing a television show portraying a cast of lesbian and gay characters (“Will & Grace”, one of the first television shows to do so) was related to more positive attitudes towards gay men

Question 14

What did McGuire 2023 find on the parasocial contact hypothesis?

Answer 14

Teenagers watched videos where characters came out as gay
Intention to challenge homophobic microaggressions increase
Particularly among boys: less likely to intend to support homophobic microaggressions

Question 15

What are the limitations of indirect contact?

Answer 15

Direct contact is more effective
Need more research on long term effects
Needs to be repeated and sustained
Not a replacement for indirect contact

Question 16

How can indirect contact lead to more confidence in direct contact?

Answer 16

Indirect contact make children ‘contact ready’
This increases the chances they will have positive cross group interactions and in turn form high quality cross-group friendships that are maintained over time

Question 17

When is indirect contact useful?

Answer 17

When direct contact isn’t possible
Boost confidence for direct contact

Question 18

What do meaningful interactions look like?

Answer 18

-eye contact, body language
-conversation
-working together
-smiling and laughing
-sharing important things

Question 19

What is synchrony?

Answer 19

The spontaneous rhythmic coordination of actions, emotions, thoughts, and physiological processes across time between 2 or more individuals

Question 20

Why is synchrony important? Reference school-based community programmes

Answer 20

Forges bonds across group divides
Helps form social bonds, connections and happiness
School Programmes involved dancing in time to rhythms and playing instruments

School-based community programmes found:
- creates connection
- strengthening social bonds
- empathy
- collective identity
- understanding others
- inclusion
- belonging
- synchrony is a rare and special event

Question 21

How synchronous were children in a Just Dance video game?

Answer 21

Just Dance game
Children
Orange vs Green team
Listen to recording and do the dance as a team
Each group did a different routine vs synchrony routine
Following synchrony task, most groups sat closer together after the dance

Question 22

Does being asked to be synchronous impact synchrony?

Answer 22

Yes
It improves when asked to be synchronous

Question 23

What is felt understanding?

Answer 23

Process during intergroup contact
Feeling that one is accurately perceived, understood, appreciated and cared for

Question 24

How does felt understanding impact wellbeing?

Answer 24

Joy
Acceptance
Relief from loneliness
Life satisfaction
better functional social relationships

Question 25

What is intergroup felt understanding?

Answer 25

The belief that members of an outgroup understand and accept the perspectives of ingroup members, including ingroup members’ beliefs, values, experiences, and self-definition/identity

Empathy has to be effectively communicated to that outgroup and that has to be picked up by members of the outgroup

Question 26

What does intergroup felt understanding predict for outgroup outcomes?

Answer 26

Closeness
Liking for outgroup
Outgroup trust
Forgiveness
Approach members of another group rather than avoid them
Perceived intergroup relations

Question 27

What is the study that tested intergroup felt understanding?

Answer 27

5 experimental studies
Manipulate felt understanding and liking using fabricated news article
Feelings understanding VS feeling misunderstood
Liked VS disliked by outgroup

Found:
Strong effect of felt understanding on intergroup outcomes
Multiple contexts: inter-generational, gender, political views (Brexit)
Consistent across studies
Distinct from liking

Question 28

What was the study that used reflecting back on felt understanding between UK and international students?

Answer 28

Reflecting back: a technique to communicate understanding
International & UK students
All ps wrote responses about what is important to them. Wrote a summary about the other person’s responses, this is exchanged and read by original ps and this ps rated how understood they felt

Found:
Reflecting back increased wellbeing (optimism, hope and life satisfaction.) More likely to have future contact and less intergroup anxiety

Question 29

What is the extended contact effect?

Answer 29

Vicarious experiences of friendships
This is ingroup members being friends with outgroup members

Question 30

Why is the extended contact effect important?

Answer 30

Can experience contact without any anxiety that occurs during direct contact
Also, the amount of minority group members may be small, so it’ more practical than direct contact
Leads to prejudice reduction