Entertainment Education as a Means to Reduce Anti-Muslim Prejudice – For Whom Does It Work Best?

Abstract

Abstract. The present research aimed to replicate and extend findings by Murrar and Brauer (2018) , who demonstrated that an entertainment education intervention (a music video) effectively reduced US residents’ anti-Muslim prejudice. Using a German sample ( N = 203), we confirmed that watching the video significantly reduced recipients’ prejudice toward Muslims compared to a control condition and two alternative interventions. Unlike in Murrar and Brauer, however, the intervention’s advantageous effect was driven by recipients’ feelings of intergroup anxiety and perceptions of outgroup malleability rather than their identification with Muslims. Extending Murrar and Brauer’s findings, our results also suggest for whom entertainment education interventions may work best, namely for recipients high in right-wing authoritarianism. The findings’ theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The Influence of Social Justice Movies

“…According to Jordaan (2015), visual arts are “a vehicle for social change through human rights and social justice… as they… give visibility to these values” (p. 64). Research by Murrar and Brauer (2018; 2019) and Siem et al (2021) points to content that has both entertainment and educational value as a resource for reducing resistant attitudes, lowering prejudice, and increasing favorable attitudes toward intergroup members.…”