Extended Contact through Story Reading in School: Reducing Children's Prejudice toward the Disabled

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop and assess a prejudice-reduction intervention for young children based on a relatively recent psychological concept, extended contact. A number of extended contact interventions were tested based on different models of generalized intergroup contact. A 3 (type of extended contact: neutral, decategorization, and "intergroup") × 2 (time of interview: pre-vs. post-extended contacts) mixed design was used, with the latter variable being within participants. Non-disabled children (N = 67) aged 5-10 years took part in a 6-week intervention involving reading stories featuring disabled and non-disabled children in friendship contexts. The main dependent variables were children's attitudes and intended behavior toward non-disabled and disabled people. Results showed that extended contact led to increased positivity toward the disabled, and this was most pronounced in the intergroup-extended contact condition. These findings suggest that extended contact can provide a prejudice-reduction intervention tool that can be used with young children in contexts in which the opportunity for direct contact is low. The findings also add to the psychological literature, providing support of the Hewstone and Brown (1986) "intergroup" model in the context of extended contact.Intergroup bias is by no means unusual among children in early and middle childhood (e.g., Aboud, 1988;Brown, 1995;Nesdale, 2001). Within the developmental social psychology literature, the emphasis of research has been on developing theoretical accounts of childhood prejudice (e.g.

Imagined Contact Improves Intentions towards a Hypothetical Peer with Asperger Syndrome but not Attitudes towards Peers with Asperger Syndrome in General

“…Extended contact has also revealed positive outcomes in improving attitudes of TD children towards peers with disabilities. Cameron and Rutland (2006) showed that 5-10 year old children who read stories portraying TD children befriending children with disabilities showed more positive attitudes and behavioural intentions towards those peers compared to control participants. In other words, extended contact may improve attitudes by knowing that "my friend's friend is my friend" (Dovidio et al, 2011, p. 150).…”

A Mixed Methods Study of Pre-­service Teachers’ Attitudes toward LGBTQ Themed Literature

“…While homophobic bullying has been explained using numerous theories such as scapegoating, social identity theory, deindividuation theory, social ranking theory, and status construction theory (Rivers, 2011), the participants' belief that transactions with LGBTQ literature could lead to a reduction in homophobia and bullying align with intergroup contact theory (Allport, 1954) and specifically with an extended contact effect (Wright, Aron, McLaughlin-Volpe, & Ropp, 1997). While the extended contact effect has been investigated using children's literature to reduce negative attitudes toward the disabled (Cameron & Rutland, 2006), there are no known studies to this author that specifically measure whether instruction of LGBTQ themed literature decreases homophobia in students or reduces the frequency of bullying. This is an area ripe for future research and scholars should investigate the possible effects that instruction of LGBTQ themed texts could have on homophobia and/or bullying.…”

Akran Öğretiminin Zihinsel Yetersizliği Olan Bireylerin Sosyal Kabulü ve Benlik Saygısına Etkisi

“…Elde edilen sonuçlar ZY bireylerle NGG akranlarının doğrudan etkileşimde bulunmalarının ZY bireylerin sosyal kabul düzeyini arttırdığı yönündeki farklı araştırmalara ait bulgularla paralellik göstermektedir (Uçar 2008;Khare, 2006;Aktaş ve Küçüker, 2002). Bu araştırmanın sonuçları yetersizliği olan bireylere yönelik etkileşim projesi içinde yer alanların (Melekoğlu,20 3), yetersizliği olan bireylerle düzenli olarak bir arada olma çalışma deneyimi olanların (Yazbeck, McVilly, Parmenter, 2004), yetersizliği olan bireylerle aktif etkileşim içinde olanların (Meyer,Gouiver,Duke & Advokat,200 ,s.5 ), yetersizliği olan bireyler hakkında bilgisi olan ve bu bireylerle çalışma deneyimi olanların (Avramidis, Bayliss & Burden, 2000) ve özel gereksinimli bireylerle ilişki kurmaya dayalı programlara katılan ilkokul öğrencilerinin (Cameron & Rutland, 2006) yetersizliği olan bireylere yönelik tutumlarının daha olumlu olduğunu ortaya koyan farklı araştırma sonuçlarıyla benzerlik göstermektedir.…”