Using Indirect Intergroup Contact Strategies to Foster the Inclusion of Disadvantaged Children

• In Event: Reducing Children's Intergroup Biases: Effective Cross-Cultural Interventions

Abstract

Research has shown that indirect (not face-to-face) contact strategies can be effective in reducing prejudice also when opportunities for direct (face-to-face) contact are scarce. To the extent that the ratio of children with disability compared with that of children without disability at school is generally high, we conducted two interventions among primary schoolchildren, relying on two popular forms of indirect contact: vicarious contact (observing interactions between ingroup and outgroup) and imagined contact (imagining contact with outgroup members). In the first study, 292 Italian children without disability took part in a vicarious contact intervention aimed to examine whether the effects of vicarious contact via video watching differs from vicarious contact based on story reading; the target outgroup was children with disabilities. By keeping content similar, we created two vicarious contact conditions (video watching, story reading), comparing them against a no-intervention control condition. Results revealed that the two vicarious contact forms had effects of similar strength. We also explored underlying psychological processes and found that the effects of the two vicarious contact conditions on outgroup attitudes and contact and helping intentions were mediated by inclusion of the other in the self, ingroup norms, empathy. In the second study, we employed the imagined contact paradigm. This study has two strengths compared to larger imagined contact research: it considers both high-status and low-status groups, and uses a behavioral measure. Primary schoolchildren (80 Italian, 42 with foreign origins) were allocated to an experimental or to a no-intervention control condition. In the experimental condition, children took part in three sessions, imagining becoming friends with a child with disability in different situations. One week after the last session they were administered a questionnaire and were asked to play in a 5-minute interaction with a child with disability in an isolated room. Results revealed that the intervention was generally effective in improving outgroup attitudes, contact and helping intentions, but especially it improved behavior (in terms of staying closer to the child with disability). Effects however only emerged among the high-status (Italian) group.

Authors

• Elisa Bisagno, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia
  Presenting Author

• Alessia Cadamuro, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia

• Gian Antonio Di Bernardo

• Veronica Margherita Cocco

• Sofia Stathi, University of Greenwich, UK

• Richard Crisp, Durham University, UK

• Loris Vezzali, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia