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Don't judge a living book by its cover: effectiveness of the living library intervention in reducing prejudice toward Roma and LGBT people
Author(s) -
Orosz Gábor,
Bánki Erzsébet,
Bőthe Beáta,
TóthKirály István,
Tropp Linda R.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12379
Subject(s) - prejudice (legal term) , intervention (counseling) , psychology , social psychology , politics , gender studies , sociology , political science , law , psychiatry
In Hungary, prejudices toward Roma and the LGBT community are highly salient and explicit in public opinion, the media, and in the political discourse. The present study examined the effectiveness of the Living Library prejudice reduction intervention—in which participants as “Readers” have engaging contact with living “Books” who are trained volunteers from the Roma and LGBT communities. In a pre‐post intervention study with high school students ( N = 105), results suggest that the Living Library intervention reduced participants’ scores on multiple measures of prejudice. The Living Library intervention appeared to be effective among both those participants whose friends endorsed prejudice or more tolerant attitudes toward Roma and LGBT people. In sum, Living Library appears to be a useful method for reducing prejudice in contexts which are characterized by strong negative attitudes toward these different groups.