REDUCING PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION

Evidence from Sherif (1961)
After Sherif investigated prejudice amongst the groups, his next aim was to try and get them to become friends. He attempted this by arranging joint activities for them such as trips to the cinema and meals out. This did not work however and the boys continued to call each other names, etc. He then set up a situation where the truck got stuck in mud and needed help pulling out, otherwise they would all miss dinner. This was successful because the task could not be completed without help from everyone. Sherif concluded that cooperation on an important task is one way of reducing prejudice and discrimination. 


Evidence from Aronson (2000)
Aronson was given the task of eliminating prejudice amongst black and white students in a school in Texas. He developed a technique called the jigsaw method, which involved the students being in mixed-raced groups, each taking responsibility for a part of the lesson. They has to become experts on their part and then pass the information/ knowledge to another group of students within the class. The technique proved successful because each student was responsible for their own learning as well as that of others. Aronson interviewed the students afterwards and found that this method had:

• enhanced their self esteem
• increased their liking of their classmates
• improved their perceptions of other racial groups within the class

Jigsaw method: the name given to the technique used by Aronson to reduce prejudice within a group of mixed-race students.

Expert groups: another name fro the jigsaw method. Its called expert groups because each student had to become an expert on their particular topic and then they pass this information/ knowledge to the rest of their group.

Evidence from Elliott (1970)

The morning after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, Jane Elliott was teaching a class of white, nine-year-olds. These children had never met anyone of a different color to themselves. She wanted to explain to them what happened the night before. She decided the only way to do this would be to explain to them how it feels to be judged by a physical appearance you have no control over. She decided to do this using the color of their eyes. She told her class that: blue-eyes children are smarter than those with brown eyes, brown-eyed children cannot use the drinking fountain, etc.