Effects of perspective taking on attitudes towards outgroups: the moderating role of group identification

Lead Research Organisation: Keele University
Department Name: Research Institute for Social Sciences

Abstract

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.
 
Description We discovered that perspective taking does not always result in the formation of positive attitudes towards other social groups, bur depends upon people's (group members') degree of social identification with their own group. For members who are strongly identified with their group, perspective taking is largely ineffective and might have deleterious consequences for attitudes.
Exploitation Route This research contributes to the evidence base assessing the effectiveness of perspective taking, as a prejudice reduction tool. It might have implications for activities like diversity training, or medical education (e.g., empathy training).
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Healthcare
URL http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-000-22-2441/read
 
Description We published the findings from this in a leading journal in our field, Psychological Science. We draw on the methods employed in the research in our ongoing work, in the area of health, for example by looking at how a perspective taking paradigm might be usefully employed to encourage more positive attitudes towards health behaviours.
First Year Of Impact 2010