Imagined contact as a prejudice-reduction intervention in schools: The underlying role of similarity and attitudes

Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Volumn 44, Issue 8, 2014, Pages 536-546

  Stathi, Sofia ^a   Cameron, Lindsey ^b   Hartley, Bonny ^b   Bradford, Shona ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF KENT   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84905734411     PISSN: 00219029     EISSN: 15591816     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12245     Document Type: Article

References (82)

1. Aboud, F. (1988). Children and prejudice. Oxford: Blackwell.
2. Aboud, F. E., & Fenwick, V. (1999). Exploring and evaluating school-based interventions to reduce prejudice in preadolescents. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 767-785.
3. Aboud, F. E., Mendelson, M. J., & Purdy, K. T. (2003). Cross-race peer relations and friendship quality. International Journal of Behavioural Development, 27, 165-173.
4. Abrams, D., Crisp, R. J., Marques, S., Fagg, E., Bedford, L., & Provias, D. (2008). Threat inoculation: Experienced and imagined intergenerational contact prevent stereotype threat effects on older people's math performance. Psychology and Aging, 23, 934-939.
5. Abrams, D., Rutland, A., & Cameron, L. (2003). The development of subjective group dynamics: Children's understanding of mental and physical handicap. Human Relations, 43, 1085-1098.
6. Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books.
7. Aron, A., Aron, E. N., & Smollan, D. (1992). Inclusion of other in the self scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 596-612.
8. Bigler, R. (1999). The use of multicultural curricula and materials to counter racism in children. Journal of Social Issues, 55, 687-705.
9. Bigler, R., & Liben, L. S. (1992). Cognitive mechanisms in children's gender stereotyping: Theoretical and educational implications of a cognitive based intervention. Child Development, 68, 530-543.
10. Brambilla, M., Ravenna, M., & Hewstone, M. (2012). Changing the stereotype content through mental imagery: Imagining intergroup contact promotes stereotype change. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 15, 305-315.
11. Brown, R. J. (1995). Prejudice: It's social psychology. Oxford: Blackwell.
12. Byrne, D. (1969). Attitudes and attraction. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (p. 4). New York: Academic Press.
13. Cameron, L., & Rutland, A. (2006). Extended contact through story reading in school: Reducing children's prejudice towards the disabled. Journal of Social Issues, 62, 469-488.
14. Cameron, L., Rutland, A., & Brown, R. (2007). Promoting children's positive intergroup attitudes towards stigmatized groups: Extended contact and multiple classification skills training. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 31, 454-466.
15. Cameron, L., Rutland, A., Brown, R., & Douch, R. (2006). Changing children's intergroup attitudes toward refugees: Testing different models of extended contact. Child Development, 77, 1208-1219.
16. Cameron, L., Rutland, A., Turner, R. N., Blake, B., Holman-Nicolas, R., & Powell, C. (2011). Changing attitudes with a little imagination: Imagined contact effects on young children's implicit attitudes. Anale de Psicologia, 26, 708-717.
17. Crisp, R. J., & Abrams, D. (2008). Improving intergroup attitudes and reducing stereotype threat: An integrated contact model. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 242-284). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
18. Crisp, R. J., Husnu, S., Meleady, R., Stathi, S., & Turner, R. N. (2010). From imagery to intention: A dual-route model of imagined contact effects. European Review of Social Psychology, 21, 188-236.
19. Crisp, R. J., Stathi, S., Turner, R. N., & Husnu, S. (2008). Imagined intergroup contact: Theory, paradigm and practice. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 3, 1-18.
20. Crisp, R. J., & Turner, R. N. (2009). Can imagined interactions produce positive perceptions? Reducing prejudice through simulated social contact. American Psychologist, 64, 231-240.
21. DeBono, K. G., & Snyder, M. (1995). Acting on one's attitudes: The role of a history of choosing situations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 629-636.
22. Dovidio, J. F., Eller, A., & Hewstone, M. (2011). Improving intergroup relations through direct, extended and other forms of in direct contact. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 14, 147-160.
23. Eller, A., & Abrams, D. (2004). Come together: Longitudinal comparisons of Pettigrew's reformulated intergroup contact model and the common ingroup identity model in Anglo-French and Mexican-American contexts. European Journal of Social Psychology, 34, 229-256.
24. Fazio, R. H., Powell, M. C., & Herr, P. M. (1983). Toward a process model of the attitude-behavior relation: Accessing one's attitude upon mere observation of the attitude object. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 723-735.
25. Fazio, R. H., & Zanna, M. P. (1981). Direct experience and attitude-behavior consistency. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 14, pp. 161-202). New York: Academic Press.
26. Feddes, A. R., Noack, P., & Rutland, A. (2009). Direct and extended friendship effects on minority and majority children's interethnic attitudes: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 80, 377-390.
27. Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Anastasio, P. A., Bachman, B. A., & Rust, M. C. (1993). The common ingroup identity model: Recategorization and the reduction of intergroup bias. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 1-26). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
28. Gaertner, S. L., Mann, J. A., Dovidio, J. F., Murrell, A. J., & Pomare, M. (1990). How does cooperation reduce intergroup bias? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 692-704.
29. Garcia, S. M., Weaver, K., Moskowitz, G. B., & Darley, J. M. (2002). Crowded minds: The implicit bystander effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 843-853.
30. Harwood, J., Paolini, S., Joyce, N., Rubin, M., & Arroyo, A. (2011). Secondary transfer effects from imagined contact: Group similarity affects the generalization gradient. British Journal of Social Psychology, 50, 180-189.
31. Hayden-Thompson, L., Rubin, K. H., & Hymel, S. (1987). Sex preferences in sociometric choices. Developmental Psychology, 23, 558-562.
32. Husnu, S., & Crisp, R. J. (2010). Elaboration enhances the imagined contact effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46, 943-950.
33. Jackson, M. F., Barth, J. M., Powell, N., & Lochman, J. E. (2006). Classroom contextual effects of race on children's peer nominations. Child Development, 77, 1325-1337.
34. Jugert, P., Noack, P., & Rutland, A. (2011). Friendship preferences among German and Turkish preadolescents. Child Development, 82, 812-829.
35. Lewis, A., & Lewis, V. (1987). The attitudes of young people towards peers with severe learning difficulties. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 287-292.
36. Liebkind, K., & McAlister, A. L. (1999). Extended contact through peer modeling to promote tolerance in Finland. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 765-780.
37. Maccoby, E. E., & Jacklin, C. N. (1987). Gender segregation in childhood. In H. W. Reese (Ed.), Advances in child development and behaviour (Vol. 20, pp. 239-287). New York: Academic Press.
38. McGlothlin, H., & Killen, M. (2005). Children's perceptions of intergroup and intragroup similarity and the role of social experience. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 680-698.
39. McGlothlin, H. E. (2004). Children's decision-making about social relationships: The impact of similarity, racial attitudes, and intergroup contact. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and Engineering, 65, 1580 [Dissertation].
40. McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415-444.
41. Nesdale, D. (2001). Development of prejudice in children. In M. Augoustinos & K. J. Reynolds (Eds.), Understanding prejudice, racism, and social conflict (pp. 57-72). London: Sage.
42. Nesdale, D. (2008). Social identity development and children's ethnic attitudes in Australia. In S. Quintana & C. McKown (Eds.), Handbook of race, racism, and the developing child (pp. 313-338). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
43. Nesdale, D., Durkin, K., Maass, A., & Griffiths, J. (2005). Threat, group identification, and children's ethnic prejudice. Social Development, 14, 189-205.
44. Nesdale, D., Durkin, K., Maass, A., Kiesner, J., & Griffiths, J. A. (2008). Effect of group norms on children's intentions to bully. Social Development, 17, 889-907.
45. Nesdale, D., & Flesser, D. (2001). Social identity and the development of children's group attitudes. Child Development, 72, 506-517.
46. Pagotto, L., Visintin, E. P., De Iorio, G., & Voci, A. (2013). Imagined intergroup contact promotes cooperation through outgroup trust. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 16, 209-216.
47. Paluck, E. L., & Green, D. P. (2009). Prejudice reduction: What works? A critical look at evidence from the field and the laboratory. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 339-367.
48. Paolini, S., Hewstone, M., Cairns, E., & Voci, A. (2004). Effect of direct and indirect cross-group friendships on judgements of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: The mediating role of an anxiety-reduction mechanism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 770-786.
49. Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 65-85.
50. Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 751-783.
51. Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2008). How does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Meta-analytic tests of three mediators. European Journal of Social Psychology, 38, 922-934.
52. Pfeifer, J. H., Brown, C. S., & Juvonen, J. (2007). Teaching tolerance in schools: Lessons learned since Brown v. Board of Education about the development and reduction of children's prejudice. Social Policy Report, 21, 3-23.
53. Plant, A. E., & Devine, P. G. (2003). The antecedents and implications of interracialanxiety. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 790-801.
54. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879-891.
55. Rutland, A., Brown, R. J., Cameron, L., Ahmavaara, A., Arnold, K., & Samson, J. (2007). Development of the positive-negative asymmetry effect: In-group exclusion norm as a mediator of children's evaluations on negative attributes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 37, 171-190.
56. Rutland, A., Cameron, L., Bennett, L., & Ferrell, J. (2005). Interracial contact and racial constancy: A multi-site study of racial intergroup bias in 3-5 year old Anglo-British children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 26, 699-713.
57. Short, G., & Carrington, B. (1996). Anti-racist education, multiculturalism, and the new racism. Educational Review, 48, 65-77.
58. Stathi, S., & Crisp, R. J. (2008). Imagining intergroup contact promotes projection to outgroups. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44, 943-957.
59. Stathi, S., & Crisp, R. J. (2010). Intergroup contact and the projection of positivity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 34, 580-591.
60. Stathi, S., Crisp, R. J., & Hogg, M. (2011). Imagining intergroup contact enables member-to-group generalization. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 15, 275-284.
61. Stathi, S., Crisp, R. J., Turner, R. N., West, K., & Birtel, M. (2012). Using mental imagery to promote positive intergroup relations. In D. W. Russel & C. A. Russel (Eds.), The psychology of prejudice: Interdisciplinary perspectives on contemporary issues (pp. 235-250). Hauppauge, NY: Nova.
62. Stathi, S., Tsantila, K., & Crisp, R. J. (2012). Imagining intergroup contact can combat mental health stigma by reducing anxiety, avoidance and negative stereotyping. Journal of Social Psychology, 152, 746-757.
63. Stephan, W. G. (1999). Improving intergroup relations in the schools. New York: Columbia Teachers College Press.
64. Stephan, W. G., & Stephan, C. W. (1985). Inter-group anxiety. Journal of Social Issues, 41, 157-175.
65. Tropp, L., & Prenovost, M. A. (2008). The role of intergroup contact in predicting children's inter-ethnic attitudes: Evidence from meta-analytic and field studies. In S. Levy & M. Killen (Eds.), Intergroup attitudes and relations in childhood through adulthood: An integrative developmental and social psychological perspective (pp. 236-248). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
66. Tropp, L. R., & Pettigrew, T. F. (2005). Relationships between intergroup contact and prejudice between majority and minority groups. Psychological Research, 16, 951-957.
67. Turner, R. N., & Brown, R. (2008). Improving children's attitudes toward refugees: An evaluation of a school-based multicultural curriculum and an anti-racist intervention. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 1295-1328.
68. Turner, R. N., & Crisp, R. J. (2010). Imagining intergroup contact reduces implicit prejudice. British Journal of Social Psychology, 49, 129-142.
69. Turner, R. N., Crisp, R. J., & Lambert, E. (2007). Imagining intergroup contact can improve intergroup attitudes. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 10, 427-441.
70. Turner, R. N., Hewstone, M., & Voci, A. (2007). Reducing explicit and implicit prejudice via direct and extended contact: The mediating role of self-disclosure and intergroup anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 369-388.
71. Turner, R. N., Hewstone, M., Voci, A., Paolini, S., & Christ, O. (2007). Reducing prejudice via direct and extended cross-group friendship. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 18, pp. 212-255). Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
72. Turner, R. N., West, K., & Christie, Z. (2013). Outgroup trust, intergroup anxiety, and outgroup attitude as mediators of the effect of imagined intergroup contact on intergroup behavioural tendencies. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43, 196-205.
73. Verkuyten, M., & Thijs, J. (2002). Racist victimization among children in the Netherlands: The effect of ethnic group and school. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 25, 310-331.
74. Vezzali, L., Capozza, D., Giovannini, D., & Stathi, S. (2012). Improving explicit and implicit intergroup attitudes using imagined contact: An experimental intervention with elementary school children. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 15, 203-212.
75. Vezzali, L., Capozza, D., Stathi, S., & Giovannini, D. (2012). Increasing outgroup trust, reducing infrahumanization, and enhancing future contact intentions via imagined intergroup contact. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 437-440.
76. Voci, A., & Hewstone, M. (2003). Intergroup contact and prejudice towards immigrants in Italy: The mediational role of anxiety and the moderational role of group salience. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 6, 37-54.
77. Wagner, U., Van Dick, R., Pettigrew, T. F., & Christ, O. (2003). Ethnic prejudice in East and West Germany: The explanatory power of intergroup contact. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 6, 22-36.
78. Walker, H. (1989). Towards anti-racist, multicultural practice with under fives. Early Child Development and Care, 41, 103-112.
79. West, K., Holmes, E., & Hewstone, M. (2011). Enhancing imagined contact to reduce prejudice against people with schizophrenia. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 14, 407-428.
80. Wright, S., & Tropp, L. (2005). Language and intergroup contact: Investigating the impact of Bilingual instruction on children's intergroup attitudes. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 8, 309-328.
81. Wright, S. C., Aron, A., McLaughlin-Volpe, T., & Ropp, S. A. (1997). The extended contact effect: Knowledge of cross-group friendships and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 73-90.
82. Zanna, M. P., & Fazio, R. H. (1982). The attitude behavior relation: Moving toward a third generation of research. In M. P. Zanna, E. T. Higgins, & C. P. Herman (Eds.), Consistency in social behavior: The Ontario Symposium (pp. 283-301). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.