Development of proposals to overcome discriminatory attitudes in representatives of various communities
The provision of psychological assistance to the population is the central mission of a psychologist. This question is especially topical when it comes to the behaviour of subjects determining negative psychoemotional and somatic consequences for both the individual and for entire social groups. One such manifestation is discriminatory behavior based on deeply formed discriminatory attitudes. This article is devoted to the development of practice-oriented proposals to overcome the discriminatory attitudes in representatives of various communities. This material is based on both fundamental developments demonstrating their effectiveness over a rather long period of time, and modern empirical data from the field of the psychology of discrimination, identified and developed by a team of authors of Chernyshevsky Saratov State University. The analysis conducted by the author allows stating that the greatest effect can be achieved by the practice of behavioural and cognitive orientation. Highlighting the features of working with discriminatory attitudes, the article spells out the principles, goals and objectives of psychologists. The stages and directions of activities aimed at overcoming discriminatory attitudes are identified. As an example, for each direction, methodological tools and specific exercises are indicated. In conclusion, a thematic plan of contact work aimed at overcoming discriminatory attitudes is given. It is concluded that the elimination of discriminatory attitudes is a long process, requiring along the way to work out a number of underlying problems associated with past experience of the subjects.