title: "Treating" prejudice: an exposure-therapy approach to reducing negative reactions toward stigmatized groups.
abstract: One of the ways in which therapists treat anxiety disorders is to expose patients to a fear-evoking stimulus within a safe environment before encouraging more positive stimulus-related thoughts. In the study reported here, we adapted these psychotherapeutic principles of exposure therapy to test the hypothesis that imagining a positive encounter with a member of a stigmatized group would be more likely to promote positive perceptions when it was preceded by an imagined negative encounter. The results of three experiments targeting a range of stigmatized groups (adults with schizophrenia, gay men, and British Muslims) supported this hypothesis. Compared with purely positive interventions, interventions in which a single negative encounter was imagined just prior to imagining a positive encounter resulted in significantly reduced prejudice. Furthermore, reduced anxiety uniquely derived from the mixed-valence imagery task statistically explained enhanced intentions to engage positively with the previously stigmatized group in the future.
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Study of Group Processes, University of Kent. michele.birtel@psy.ox.ac.uk
authors.forename: Michèle D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Birtel
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Crisp
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D063509:Homophobia / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D007171:Implosive Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D007514:Islam; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice / Q000523:psychology*; D012559:Schizophrenia; D013240:Stereotyping; D055815:Young Adult