A teacher-led vicarious contact intervention in culturally mixed classrooms with in- and outgroup role models of intergroup friendship

Abstract

Existing prejudice-reduction interventions in schools mainly target majority students and are mostly conducted by researchers, which limits their use for anti-discriminatory practices in culturally mixed schools. We tested a teacher-led intervention aiming at prejudice-reduction among both minority and majority adolescents through vicarious contact. The effects of indirect vicarious contact rest on observed ingroup role models of intergroup contact who have positive attitudes towards the outgroup, and vice versa. However, the specific impact of vicarious contact exerted by outgroup role models in comparison with ingroup role models has never been studied in interventions conducted in naturalistic school settings. To fill these gaps, a field experiment was conducted among secondary school students in Finland (Nmajority = 437; Nminority = 146). The experiment consisted of two stages, between which the ethnic status of the role models (majority vs minority) in stories read during the intervention sessions was changed. This was done to explore the impact of the in-and outgroup role models after the first stage, and to test the overall effect of the intervention on out-group attitudes and perceived in-and outgroup norms after participants were presented with both majority and minority storytellers after the second stage.The intervention affected the perceived outgroup norms among the minority participants as they perceived norms prevailing in the majority group to be more positive after the intervention.However, the ethnic status of the role models made no difference for any outcome variable.Ways to implement scientific knowledge into practice by providing research-based tools for multicultural education are discussed.

Beyond direct contact: The theoretical and societal relevance of indirect contact for improving intergroup relations

“…These findings are not only restricted to extended contact, as recent research has shown that perceived ingroup norms also account for the effect of alternative forms of indirect contact such as vicarious contact (e.g., Mäkinen et al, 2019;Vezzali et al, 2014). Finally, this effect appears even when controlling for direct intergroup contact (e.g., Gomez et al, 2011), and is independent of the effect of other mediators such as intergroup anxiety (e.g., Paolini et al, 2004) and inclusion of other in the self (e.g., Cameron & Rutland, 2006;see R. N. Turner et al, 2008).…”

Using Intergroup Contact to Fight Prejudice and Negative Attitudes

“…The social normative structure within which an intervention is realized may also dramatically change the impact of the intervention (Eller, Abrams, et al, 2017; for the role of structural transitions in determining intergroup relations, see also Birtel, Reimer, Wölfer, & Hewstone, 2020). In addition, the impact of who administers the intervention (e.g., researcher or teacher), as well as interactions between researchers and practitioners, are likely to have a deep impact on the effectiveness of the intervention (Cameron & Rutland, 2016;Cameron & Turner, 2017;Mäkinen et al, 2019). These factors are often considered unimportant and are not addressed or discussed meaningfully in social psychological research.…”

May the odds be ever in your favor: The Hunger Games and the fight for a more equal society. (Negative) Media vicarious contact and collective action

“…Vicarious contact can be defined as the observation of interactions between ingroup and outgroup members (Dovidio et al., 2011; Vezzali et al., 2014). When tested in the laboratory it has generally been operationalized as video watching (Mazziotta et al., 2011; Preuß & Steffens, 2020) and in naturalistic contexts as story reading; that is, short ad hoc created stories where ingroup characters have positive interactions with outgroup characters (Cameron & Rutland, 2006; Mäkinen et al., 2019; McKeown et al., 2017; but see Vezzali et al., 2019). There is now a large body of evidence showing that observing positive intergroup interactions is associated with reduced prejudice (Mazziotta et al., 2011; West & Turner, 2014).…”