Multicultural experiences reduce prejudice through personality shifts in Openness to Experience

Publication Year
2016

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

Across two studies we test the prediction that multicultural experiences reduce intercultural prejudice by increasing Openness to Experience. In Study 1, frequency of self‐reported multicultural experiences was associated with greater openness and less ethnic prejudice, and openness explained the relationship between multicultural experiences and ethnic prejudice. In Study 2, we experimentally manipulated a multicultural experience. Compared to those in a control condition, participants exposed to the cultural members and elements of foreign cultures reported being higher in Openness to Experience and expressed less prejudice toward these cultural groups. There was also some evidence that multicultural exposure, through openness, caused secondary transfer effects in prejudice reduction. Our findings suggest that exposure to multicultural environments can improve intercultural attitudes by personality shifts in Openness to Experience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Journal
European Journal of Social Psychology
Volume
46
Pages
840–853
Type of Article
Journal Article
Full text

The following is an excerpt of the intervention methodology. For more information, please see the full text of the article on the publisher's website or through your institution's library.

Study 1

Using an online correlational sample, we first tested the hypothesis that multicultural experiences predict less prejudice through greater Openness to Experience. We asked participants to self-report their frequency of multicultural experiences, Openness to Experience, and ethnic prejudice. [...]

Method

Participants and procedure. One hundred ninety-eight undergraduates at the University of Arkansas participated in an online study about social experiences and perception in exchange for partial fulfillment of a course requirement. [...] This left a final sample of 180 participants for analyses (61% female, 80% White; Mage= 20.25, SD= 4.19).1 After providing informed consent, participants completed measures of self-reported multicultural experiences, Openness to Experience, ethnic prejudice, and several additional variables unrelated to the present study. [...] Our scale measured participants’ self-reported foreign travel and contact with members of different countries (e.g., frequency and length of foreign travel, immersion in different cultural norms, number of current contacts with individuals living in different countries, number of friends and family from different cultures) and exposure to the subjective elements of different cultures (e.g., social norms, art, music, film, and food). [...]

Openness to experience. Openness to Experience was measured using John and Srivastava’s Big-Five lexical taxonomy. Each of the 10 items from the subscale [...] were answered on a 5-point, Likert-type scale (1 = not at all like me, 5= just like me) [...].

Ethnic prejudice. Attitudes toward five ethnic outgroups (Middle Easterners, Africans, Slavs, Asians, and Latin Americans) were assessed using a feeling thermometer scale (0 =very cold, 100 =very warm). [...]

Study 2

In Study 2, we sought to establish evidence that experimentally manipulating a multicultural experience can reduce intercultural prejudice by way of personality shifts in Openness to Experience. Short of the opportunity to take half of our participants to experience other cultures, we brought multicultural experiences to them by way of a computer-administered slideshow. [...]

Method

Participants and procedure. One hundred ten undergraduates (65% females; Mage= 19.29 years, SD= 1.31) from the University of Arkansas participated [...]. Participants then began this task, which was a computer-administered slideshow depicting either local or multicultural environments (described below). After completion of the local or multicultural exposure slideshow, participants were asked to spend several minutes summarizing their thoughts and reactions to the pictures [...] before responding to a series of dependent measures tapping openness and primary and secondary prejudice (described in the measures section).

Manipulating a multicultural experience. One of two different slideshows, constructed from pictures taken from the internet, was presented on the computer. Fifteen pictures depicted the local cultural environment and 15 depicted multicultural environments. [...] The local culture exposed participants to the cultural elements of geopolitical information, eating practices, and social norms from three nearby, familiar cities (Fayetteville, Rogers, and Springdale, Arkansas). The multicultural condition exposed participants to the same cultural elements, but they were specific to three culturally diverse regions around the globe (Zambia, Bolivia, and Oman). [...] For the geopolitical information, participants were shown a picture of a map orienting them to each city and state (or country), a brief introduction to the location’s history, and a picture depicting the mayor of each city. Participants were also shown six pictures (two per location) of eating practices, followed by three pictures (one per location) depicting social norms. [...] Each screen of the slideshow also displayed two questions participants were asked to respond to regarding the pictures [...]. We included this task to ensure participants attended throughout the manipulation.

Openness to Experience. The same Openness to Experience scale from Study 1 was used [...].

Primary and secondary outgroup prejudice. Participants indicated how they felt toward several groups using a feeling thermometer (0 =cold, 100 = warm/positive). [...] To aid in determining which secondary groups were seen as relatively similar or dissimilar to the primary groups, three research assistants, blind to the hypotheses and goals of the research, independently rated the groups on a 1 (very similar) to 20 (very dissimilar) scale. [...]

Type of Prejudice/Bias
Country
Method