Don't judge a living book by its cover: effectiveness of the living library intervention in reducing prejudice toward Roma and LGBT people

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied social psychology 2016-09, Vol.46 (9), p.510-517
Main Authors: Orosz, Gábor, Bánki, Erzsébet, Bőthe, Beáta, Tóth-Király, István, Tropp, Linda R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Prejudice
Romani people
Sexual orientation discrimination
Social psychology
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0021-9029
1559-1816
DOI:10.1111/jasp.12379