Reducing prejudice Flashcards
Why tackle prejudice in children?
linked to low self-esteem and peer rejection (Verkyten, 2001)
UN children’s act
easier than changing adult’s opinions
Who develops theory driven interventions?
practitioners design and implement
psychologists develop theories
What are the approaches to reducing prejudice in children?
socialisation
empathy
cognitive development
What is the socialisation approach?
children’s attitudes reflect those of the community (Nesdale, 2004)
Which approach is favoured by practitioners?
Socialisation
What was the Sesame Street Race Relations Curriculum? (Graves, 1999)
an attempt to challenge young children’s racial stereotypes and attitudes
What were the aims of the SSRRC (Graves, 1999)
emphasis similarities
embrace differences
promote inclusion
What was the result of the SSRRC?
1500 children said parents of character would be angry for playing with an out group member
What was wrong with the measures of the SSRRC
changes in stereotypes and attitudes were not obtained and European American adults were not shown.
What did Litcher and Johnson (1969) do on multicultural readers?
evaluated a four week programme, children read stories featuring counter-sterotypical African American characters
What were the findings of Litcher and Johnson (1969)?
prejudice levels were lower following intervention
Koeller (1977) exposed European American children to stories of Mexican Americans…
but they did not lead to more positive intergroup attitudes
McAdoo (1970) after evaluation concluded…
multicultural readers strengthens negative stereotypes
Why do socialisation interventions fail?
based on old research
learning theory approach (children are passive)
Neuberg (1996) people ignore contradictory information
focuses on cultural differences
unconscious negative feelings are stronger (Tropp and Pettigrew, 1995)
What is emotional empathy?
the ability to experience the feelings of another person in response to a particular situation
What is cognitive empathy?
knowledge of the norms and world views of other groups
What does a lack of empathy lead to?
prejudice
Nesdale, Griffith, Durkin and Maass (2005) with 150 white Anglo Australian children…
found empathy is not linked to liking for the same ethnic out group but is linked to liking for a different outgroup
Who started the eyes experiment?
Elliot in the 1960s
Blue eyes are…
cleverer and superior to brown eyed people
Brown eyes are…
lazy and stupid
Step 2 of the eyes study….
favoured blue eyes giving extra privileges
Step 3 of the eyes study…
reversed roles
Weiner and Wright (1973) evaluated what study?
The eyes study
Weiner and Wright (1973) found…
Ps more willing to engage with the outgroup
A flaw with Weiner and Wright (1973) was…
they didn’t measure if it increased empathy
Cognitive empathy works by…
increasing perceived similarity
Batson’s (1997) 3 stage process of changing intergroup attitudes…
1- empathic concern for the individual
2- value the welfare of said individual
3- concern generalises within the group
(guilt/shame are involved)
Empathy interventions are limited by…
only effective with older children
Aboud (1988) proposed what theory?
cognitive-developmental theory
What is cognitive-developmental theory based on?
prejudice in children is a result of their maturing cognitive abilities
Piaget (1970) on CDT said…
we have a tendency to sort things into rigid categories (multiple classification skills)
Bigler and Liben (1993) said multiple classification skills among 4-9 year olds…
are better and less gender and ethnic stereotypical
Limitations with Bigler and Liben’s interventions are…
not linked to out group attitudes (Bigler, 1995)
Cameron et al (2007) found…
training did not result in more positive out group attitudes
Intergroup contact theory (Allport, 1954) says…
bringing together members of different groups should reduce prejudice under the right conditions
Conditions for intergroup contact theory are…
equal status common goals intergroup cooperation support by authority personal interaction
An effective form of contact is (Pettigrew, 1997)
friendship
Wright et al (1997) learning about what can reduce prejudice?
friendship of others
Stephan and Stephan (1985) contact can create…
intergroup anxiety
