A Dissonance Intervention to Reduce Implicit Prejudice Against Arab Muslims

With constant media coverage of hostility in the Middle East, and given recent acts of domestic terrorism such as the attacks of September 11, 2001, it is reasonable to assume that prejudice against the Arab-Muslim population has been increasing at exponential rates in the United States (Moore, 2002). There are many active campaigns advocating for both acceptance and the reduction of various types of prejudice and discrimination in our society. However, the question is if these campaigns are actually successful in their goals. The current study seeks to fill this gap and assess a social intervention on its effectiveness in reducing prejudice towards the Arab-Muslim population. Using the induction of cognitive dissonance (i.e. hypocrisy), between 60 to 80 students will participate in a social intervention to possibly reduce implicit prejudice towards Arab-Muslims. Dissonance will be induced by using a sample of participants with higher ratings on the anti-Arab-Muslim Prejudice scale, having them advocate publically for a pro-Islam community event, and then making them aware of their prejudicial attitudes. Reduction in implicit prejudice will be measured by the difference in scores between the pre- and post- Implicit Association Task test a week later