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Engaging with diversity: Framing multiculturalism as a learning opportunity reduces prejudice among high White American identifiers
Author(s) -
Rios Kimberly,
Wynn Ashley N.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2196
Subject(s) - prejudice (legal term) , multiculturalism , social psychology , ethnic group , framing (construction) , diversity (politics) , psychology , cultural diversity , ideology , sociology , political science , politics , law , pedagogy , geography , archaeology , anthropology
Multiculturalism (i.e., acknowledgment and appreciation of diversity), despite its positive consequences, is often met with resistance among majority group members, particularly those whose race/ethnicity is central to their self‐concept. Building upon findings that multiculturalism lowers White Americans' prejudice when presented as an abstract relative to concrete concept, we tested whether and when even concrete forms of multiculturalism can improve intergroup attitudes. Across two experiments, highly identified White Americans exhibited less racial prejudice when induced to view multiculturalism as a concrete learning opportunity than as a concrete set of policies (Study 1) or a concrete ideology more generally (Study 2). This effect was mediated by high identifiers' increased perceptions that diversity benefits themselves and society as a whole. Implications for prejudice reduction and fostering majority group members' active involvement in diversity‐relevant issues, as well as the applicability of our studies to other cultural contexts, are discussed.