University of SaskatchewanHARVEST
  • Login
  • Submit Your Work
  • About
    • About HARVEST
    • Guidelines
    • Browse
      • All of HARVEST
      • Communities & Collections
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
      • This Collection
      • By Issue Date
      • Authors
      • Titles
      • Subjects
    • My Account
      • Login
      JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.
      View Item 
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item
      • HARVEST
      • Electronic Theses and Dissertations
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      • View Item

      Combatting Anti-Indigenous Prejudice Through Imagined Contact: A Mixed-Methods Investigation

      Thumbnail
      View/Open
      WALL-THESIS-2018.pdf (1.112Mb)
      Date
      2018-08-29
      Author
      Wall, Karissa N 1992-
      ORCID
      0000-0003-2544-5543
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
      Show full item record
      Abstract
      Anti-Indigenous prejudice is a pervasive, enduring phenomenon in Canada, drawing on a heavily-entrenched legacy of colonialism. To date, no social psychological studies have examined techniques that could reduce this prejudice and its correlates in a Canadian context. To address this gap, an experimental study drawing on the imagined contact hypothesis was conducted. Participants (N = 307) were randomly assigned to imagine a positive interaction with a stranger of an unspecified or Indigenous ethnic background. They then described the imagined interaction in writing, and completed questionnaires measuring modern and old-fashioned prejudice, intergroup anxiety, perceptions of outgroup variability, and their support for an Indigenous-related petition. Participants also had an opportunity to sign this ostensibly real petition, providing a more behavioural measure of their support for this cause. These measures were filled out for a second time at a four-week follow-up (n = 212). Results showed that the imagined contact intervention had no effect on participants’ attitudes, emotion, or behaviour at either Time 1 or Time 2. That is, participants who imagined a positive interaction with an Indigenous person, as compared to a person of an unspecified racial background, evinced the same levels of prejudice, anxiety, and petition support. A thorough analysis of the qualitative data showed that participants in the Indigenous condition had significantly less positive interaction experiences than those in the control condition. Further analysis also produced two major themes: 1) Indigenous culture and identity, and 2) racism. The first theme encompassed discussion of a) traditions, b) the opportunity to learn about Indigenous culture, c) reserves, and d) intergroup tensions, while the second theme included a) participants making racist comments, b) their understandings of racism, and c) hardships faced by Indigenous people. Overall, imagined contact’s failure to reduce prejudice and other forms of negativity towards Indigenous people indicates that more tailored intervention strategies are needed in this particular context.
      Degree
      Master of Arts (M.A.)
      Department
      Psychology
      Program
      Applied Social
      Supervisor
      Morrison, Melanie A
      Committee
      Morrison, Todd G; McWilliams, Lachlan A; Walker, Ryan; Gagnon, Michelle
      Copyright Date
      July 2018
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/9655
      Subject
      Anti-Indigenous prejudice
      imagined intergroup contact
      Collections
      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
      University of Saskatchewan

      University Library

      The University of Saskatchewan's main campus is situated on Treaty 6 Territory and the Homeland of the Métis.

      © University of Saskatchewan
      Contact Us | Disclaimer | Privacy