Ideological and threat predictors of religious and diet-based prejudice in Canada

There is an increasing prevalence of negative attitudes toward vegans and vegetarians in North America. Religious reasons for diet might provide a buffering effect on prejudice towards these groups (MacInnis & Hodson, 2017). In the present thesis (Study 1), the role of socio-political ideology, threat perceptions and religious identity in understanding negative attitudes towards vegans and vegetarians, was investigated. Further, as imagined contact has been found to predict tolerant outgroup attitudes (Miles & Crisp, 2014), the relationship between imagined contact and attitudes towards vegans was studied (Study 2). Study 1 (n=406) and Study 2 (n=137) were both administered to undergraduate samples. In Study 1, religious identity had no buffering effect on attitudes towards vegans/vegetarians. Participants higher on ideology and threat held less favourable attitudes towards vegans and Sikh vegans/vegetarians. In Study 2, participants who imagined interacting with vegans reported liking them more (vs. control). Implications for future research are discussed.

Ideological and threat predictors of religious and diet-based prejudice in Canada

There is an increasing prevalence of negative attitudes toward vegans and vegetarians in North America. Religious reasons for diet might provide a buffering effect on prejudice towards these groups (MacInnis & Hodson, 2017). In the present thesis (Study 1), the role of socio-political ideology, threat perceptions and religious identity in understanding negative attitudes towards vegans and vegetarians, was investigated. Further, as imagined contact has been found to predict tolerant outgroup attitudes (Miles & Crisp, 2014), the relationship between imagined contact and attitudes towards vegans was studied (Study 2). Study 1 (n=406) and Study 2 (n=137) were both administered to undergraduate samples. In Study 1, religious identity had no buffering effect on attitudes towards vegans/vegetarians. Participants higher on ideology and threat held less favourable attitudes towards vegans and Sikh vegans/vegetarians. In Study 2, participants who imagined interacting with vegans reported liking them more (vs. control). Implications for future research are discussed.

‘It put me in their shoes’: challenging negative attitudes towards asylum seekers among Australian children

This paper evaluates a short school-based intervention run by Australian Red Cross, designed to reduce children’s prejudice towards asylum seekers. A total of 121 children aged between 10 to 12 in four schools in Perth, Western Australia, completed questionnaires at Time 1 (pre-intervention), Time 2 (immediately after the intervention), and Time 3 (8-9 months after the intervention). The intervention used a mixture of approaches: providing information, encouraging empathy, making positive social norms more explicit, and fostering imagined contact with asylum seekers. The intervention content was also reinforced by teachers throughout the school year. The study found that the intervention was effective in increasing the children’s positivity towards asylum seekers, reducing prejudiced attitudes, and increasing intentions to interact with asylum seekers. It also found that the intervention increased the children’s accuracy in defining ‘asylum seeker’ and ‘refugee’. These results occurred both in the short-and long-term, although there was some regression over time.

The imaginary friends of my friends: Imagined contact interventions which highlight supportive social norms reduce children’s antirefugee bias

Fostering inclusive attitudes among children in host classrooms is key to integrating refugee children. A field experiment tests the prejudice reduction effects of a teacher-led activity integrating imagined intergroup contact and normative influence. To enhance the effectiveness of imagined contact, scenarios include supportive ingroup norms. In 29 classes, 545 children ( Mage = 10.88, SD = 0.96) were randomly assigned to one of five conditions: standard imagined contact, imagined contact encouraged by family, class peers, or religious ingroups, or a control. Children in all norm-framed imagined contact conditions had significantly less antirefugee bias compared with the control. The class-peer norm frame significantly reduced affective and cognitive facets of bias. The family norm frame reduced affective bias, and the religious norm frame reduced cognitive bias. Standard imagined contact did not differ from the control. Potential mediating pathways are explored. These findings illustrate the utility of incorporating norms into imagined contact interventions to reduce antirefugee bias among schoolchildren.

A Review on Intergroup Imagined Contact Theory and Research

Prejudice, stereotype and discrimination cause the exposed group members to experience many physical and psychological difficulties. Various studies have been conducted and theories have been developed in order to reduce the negative consequences of prejudice and discrimination and to develop more positive intergroup attitudes and behaviors. One of the theories developed in this context is the intergroup imagined contact theory. Imagined contact is a type of indirect contact that contributes to the reduction of prejudices through a positive mental communication between group members. Number of studies carried out in Turkey about imagined contact theory is quite limited. Therefore, the purpose of the current review study is to present the imagined contact theory and some research findings conducted within the framework of this theory, to make suggestions based on the presented research findings, and to provide a comprehensive Turkish resource for students and researchers who want to have information about imagined contact. For this purpose, firstly, brief information about the concepts of prejudice, stereotype and discrimination and the theories that imagined contact theory based on were presented. Then, imagined contact theory, methodological modifications of imagined contact settings, and related research findings carried out worldwide and in Turkey were reviewed separately. Finally, some opinions and suggestions related to the theory and future directions were presented. Keywords Prejudice, intergroup contact theories, imagined contact theory

The Effect of Imagined Social Contact on Chinese Students’ Perceptions of Japanese People

Social identity theory (SIT) suggests that perceived identity difference between groups predicts to intergroup conflict, including interstate conflict. Contact theory suggests that social contact between groups can help reduce intergroup conflict. Contact theory, however, has not traditionally focused on perceived identity difference, and it has not been tested much on real-world interstate conflicts. Employing an experimental design, our study tests for the effects of imagined social contact on Chinese students’ generally malign perceptions of identity difference with Japanese people. We find that imagined contact reduces key perceptions of difference by reducing both perceived Japanese malignity and perceived Chinese benignity. This suggests that social contact helps produce new hybrid in-group. By employing SIT, our findings provide a new microfoundation for contact theory, suggest an important process in the creation of security communities, and provide a proof of concept for public policies aimed at large-scale cultural exchanges.