'Changing attitudes with a little imagination': Imagined contact effects on young children's intergroup bias

Authors

  • Lindsey Cameron
  • Adam Rutland
  • Rhiannon Turner
  • Rosie Holman Nicolas
  • Claire Powell
Keywords: imagined contact, young children, prejudice, social attitudes, disabled children, intergroup bias

Abstract

The current research tested a recent development in social psychology, namely „imagined contact‟, among young children (n = 123, 5 to 10 years). Children imagined interacting with a physically disabled child, or did not take part in this activity (the control group). Compared with the control group, children who engaged in „imagined contact‟ subsequently showed reduced intergroup bias in their general attitude and ratings of warmth and competence. Imagined contact also led to more positive intended friendship behavior towards the disabled, but only among 5 – 6 year olds. This provides partial support for our hypothesis that younger children, perhaps as a result of their lack of outgroup experience, are more likely to benefit from imagined contact. Implications for the development of attitudes towards the disabled, imagined contact theory and the development of classroom-based prejudice-reduction techniques based on imagined contact are discussed.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
How to Cite
Cameron, L., Rutland, A., Turner, R., Holman Nicolas, R., & Powell, C. (2011). ’Changing attitudes with a little imagination’: Imagined contact effects on young children’s intergroup bias. Anales de Psicología / Annals of Psychology, 27(3), 708–717. Retrieved from https://revistas.um.es/analesps/article/view/135311
Issue
Vol. 27 No. 3 (2011)
Section
Special issue. Prejudice: Sociodevelopmental perspectives. Guest Editors: Silvia Guerrero, Ileana Enesco and Rosa M Pons

 

The works published in this journal are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publications Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) retains the property rights (copyright) of published works, and encourages and enables the reuse of the same under the license specified in paragraph 2.

© Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2022

2. The works are published in the online edition of the journal under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento-CompartirIgual 4.0 (legal text). You can copy, use, distribute, transmit and publicly display, provided that: i) you cite the author and the original source of publication (journal, editorial and URL of the work), ii) are not used for commercial purposes, iii ) mentions the existence and specifications of this license.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

3. Conditions of self-archiving. Is allowed and encouraged the authors to disseminate electronically pre-print versions (version before being evaluated and sent to the journal) and / or post-print (version reviewed and accepted for publication) of their works before publication, as it encourages its earliest circulation and diffusion and thus a possible increase in its citation and scope between the academic community. RoMEO Color: Green.