Improve attitudes through indirect intergroup contact? : A study of secondary school students' attitudes towards asylum-seekers
Abstract: With the increasing numbers of refugees and asylum seekers seeking safety in Europe, integration is of utmost importance to handle this situation effectively. When looking at integration in the Netherlands as the process of decreasing the difference in opportunities, concerning for example, income, education and social security, between people with a Dutch and a migration background, it can be observed that integration is not successful. One attempt to improve integration is by improving intergroup contact, as this reduces prejudice and threat and will enhance more positive attitudes towards the outgroup. Following from the intergroup contact theory, there are several approaches that can improve this attitude, one of these being the indirect intergroup contact theory. This theory has been at stake in this research and it has been studied whether Digital Storytelling videos can be regarded as a form of indirect intergroup contact. To achieve this objective, the impact of these two videos on secondary school students’ attitudes towards asylum seekers was studied by conducting a random controlled trial. The students (N = 165) were divided into three groups; one control group, one group that watched a video from an asylum seeker (outgroup video) and one group that watched a video from an ingroup member who has engaged in intergroup contact (ingroup video). The effects have been studied with respect to the general attitude, the willingness to engage in contact, equality, extended contact, threat, realistic threat and intergroup anxiety. The effect of previous contact has also been considered in this research. This research has concluded that the outgroup video has the strongest influence, both on people that have and have not engaged in intergroup contact. Nevertheless, when comparing to the control group, the impact on the people that have not engaged in previous intergroup contact is relatively stronger. This outcome is that same for the ingroup video; the effect is the strongest for the people that have not been in contact, which is what the indirect contact theory is based upon. To use the findings of this research in real-life setting, the optimal result is believed to be achieved when an ingroup video will be showed before direct contact takes place and an outgroup video after direct contact has taken place.
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