IMPROVING INTERGROUP RELATIONS

Question 1

Ways of improving intergroup relations:

Answer 1

» Tokenism
» Intergroup Contact (Contact Theory)
» Categorization-based approaches
» Tolerance-based approaches
» Value-based approaches
» Mass media
» Intergroup apology and forgiveness
» Communication and negotiation
» Collective action

Question 2

Tokenism

Answer 2

Tokenism - performing positive actions towards members of minority or disadvantaged groups as a reaction to the discrimination they suffer.

E.g. If you are an employer taking on a new staff member, perhaps you can try to give a job to a minority group memberahead of other, similarly qualified applicants.

Question 3

Problems with Tokenism

Answer 3

• Tokenism may be a genuine attempt to counteract prejudice OR an attempt to deflect prejudice (a means to disguise one’s prejudices, making it easier to engage in subsequent acts of discrimination).

Question 4

Monin & Miller (2001) - Attempting to show tokenism can later show the opposite true attitude (prejudice).

Answer 4

• People who had tried proving not being prejudiced were more willing later to discriminate against a different Black person.

Question 5

Fajardo (1985); Harber (1998)

Answer 5

• Teachers marked identical work more highly if they believe it is by a Black student.
• This can cause students to misdirect their efforts at improvement + make them think that praise reflects their race rather than their achievement.

Question 6

Contact Theory (Allport, 1954)

Answer 6

Contact theory - bringing members of opposing groups together will improve intergroup relations, reduce prejudice and reduce discrimination.

Question 7

How does Contact work to improve intergroup relations?

Answer 7

Psychologists have NOT been able to agree on a theory of WHY actually contact works.

Potential reasons -
1) Increases empathy - increases people’s willingness to empathise with our-group members (Aberson & Haag, 2007).

2) Reduces anxiety - reduces people intergroup anxiety, particularly anxiety around contact itself (Blascovich et al., 2001).

3) Increases knowledge - increases knowledge of the out-group, reducing prejudice by changing intergroup emotion (anxiety and empathy) that contact brings.

Question 8

4 optimal conditions for Contact to work:

Answer 8

1) Equality of status - the groups must have roughly equal status in the situation.
2) Common goals
3) Intergroup cooperation
4) Support of authorities, law or custom - emphasises legitimacy on the contact situation.

Question 9

Unanswered questions/limitations by the Contact Theory:

Answer 9

• Are the conditions too many + realistic?
• Most of research on contact is correlational studies (does having extended contact lead to lower prejudice, or does lower prejudice lead to having extended contact?)
• Contact is more successful in cultures with lower inequality (Kende, Phalet, Van Den Noortgate, Kara & Fischer, 2018).

Question 10

When Contact is NOT possible -

Answer 10

1. Extended contact effect - you can benefit from contact without actually experiencing it - one of your in-group friends has good friendships with out-group members.
2. Imagined contact effect - merely imagining a positive encounter with a member of minority groups will make you feel more positively towards the group.
3. Virtual intergroup contact

Question 11

Contact Theory in Real Life application - Rwandan Reconciliation Village

Answer 11

• The village was a social experiment – an initiative by the Rwandan government post the genocide of 1994.
• Survivors of the genocide live side by side with the ex-‘perpetrators’ of the genocide.
• Has enabled Rwandans to understand and close one chapter of their history and begin another.

Question 12

Categorisation-Based Approaches

Answer 12

Categorisation-Based Approaches - social categories can be used as a tool to reduce prejudice.

Example:
- Decategorisation / Personalisation - to reduce prejudice + categorisation can be extended to be more inclusive (e.g. “me” and “you” rather than “we” and “them”).

Question 13

Tolerance-Based Approaches

Answer 13

Tolerance-based approaches- we may have a negative attitude toward out-group beliefs and practices + but we can intentionally self-restrain ourselves from acting upon this attitude.

Question 14

Value-Based Approaches

Answer 14

Value-based approaches - values such as tolerance + multiculturalism + egalitarianism may encourage positive attitudes and behaviours towards outgroups.

1) Multiculturalism - diversity in a society should be celebrated + most effective.

2) Assimilation - diversity in a society should be downplayed and attempts should be made to downplay differences between groups.

Question 15

Mass media in improving intergroup conflict

Answer 15

• After the two world wars, scientists were more interested in the influence of propaganda in forming and changing intergroup attitudes and reducing conflict.
• Nowadays a greater focus on other methods and contact.

Question 16

Paluck (2009) - Rwandan nongovernmental programme for reconciliation

Answer 16

• Ten years after the Rwandan genocide, a nongovernmental programme for recociliation was created.
• Results: 1 year later - NO significant impact on personal beliefs + BUT DID influence their perceptions of social norms.
• Conclusion: To change prejudiced behaviour, it may be useful to target social norms rather than personal beliefs (challenges other techniques which target personal beliefs and cognitive processes) !

Limitations -

• The results may be specific to Rwandan culture and context.
• Fails to consider that exposure to negative stereotypes in the media may mean that interventions may have limited effect.

Question 17

Problems with research on prejudice reduction -

Answer 17

• A lot of research is controlled laboratory settings - lacks ecological validity.
• Many of the prejudice reduction techniques tested in the laboratory are subtle and often minimal – for example, people might be asked to wear the same colour T-shirt or sit near each other.
• Laboratory interventions also pay little attention to the roles of power and authority.
• Not representative - often rely on US college students to test prejudice interventions.

Question 18

Intergroup Apology & Forgiveness

Answer 18

Emotions an out-group member expresses are important in the process of making effective apologies.

Question 19

Apologies are often NOT effective because of 2 reasons -

Answer 19

• People often do not even remember apologies (Philpot and Hornsey, 2011).
• Effectiveness of apology also depends on whether it is accepted (Hornsey and Barlow, 2011).

Question 20

Collective action

Answer 20

Collective action - the pursuit of goals by more than one person, specifically the co-ordinated actions of disadvantaged group members in order to change intergroup relations.

E.g.
- Protest
- Lobbying
- Organized charity
- Volunteering

Question 21

Collective action in Real-life applications - Leach et al. (2006)

Answer 21

• Many thousands of non-Indigenous Australians were against their government’s refusal to apologise for historical wrongs against Indigenous Australians + signed a “sorry book” that contained a collective apology.