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      Predicting prejudice from empathy : a multiple regression analysis

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      Date
      2008
      Author
      Nesbitt, Kendra Dawn
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
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      Abstract
      Past research has demonstrated that empathy can reduce prejudicial attitudes as it leads people to share a sense of common identity with other cultural groups (Stephan & Finlay, 1999) or by arousing feelings of injustice (Finlay & Stephan, 2000). However, the current volume of research largely centers around administering empathy-inducing scenarios to participants and then assessing levels of prejudicial attitudes as opposed to examining initial levels of empathy. In addition, there is a lack of research regarding modern prejudicial attitudes towards individuals of Aboriginal descent. The present study examines the predictive value of ethnocultural empathy, age, gender, and social desirability on the levels of those prejudicial attitudes. One hundred and sixty eight undergraduate students from the University of Saskatchewan completed a questionnaire, including the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (Wang, Davidson, Yakushko, Savoy, Tan, & Bleier, 2003), the Prejudiced Attitudes Towards Aboriginals Scale (Morrison, 2007), and Form C of the Marlowe Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Reynolds, 1982). The multiple regression analysis revealed that ethnocultural empathy and age were predictive of modern prejudicial attitudes toward Aboriginals. Participants with higher levels of ethnocultural empathy reported reduced levels of modern prejudicial attitudes. However, contrary to expectation, gender was not a significant predictor variable. Practical applications and limitations of these findings are discussed as well as directions for future research.
      Degree
      Master of Education (M.Ed.)
      Department
      Educational Psychology and Special Education
      Program
      Educational Psychology and Special Education
      Supervisor
      Kelly, Ivan W.
      Committee
      McIntyre, Laureen; Claypool, Tim; Renihan, Patrick
      Copyright Date
      2008
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-07022008-110947
      Subject
      Modern prejudice towards Aboriginals
      Empathy
      Prejudice
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      • Graduate Theses and Dissertations
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