Reducing Prejudism:Aroinson

Aim:To try and reduce prejudism in a school in Texas between whikte and black students. They used the Jigsaw Technique

Method:They divided the class into small groups of racially mixed students, each of which had to work on each part of the lesson. The individuals in the group had to work together work together, and them communicated their group work to the rest of the class.

Results: Aronson found increased cooperation, self-asteem and academic performance. He also noted more positive perceptions of students in the other racial group.

Conclussion:These students saw each other as exceptions to the steroetypes, but the stereotypes themselves did not change very much.

.The success of Elliott's work using empathy may have been due to the age of the children, whose stereotypes and attitides were probably more flexible than those of adults. Creating empathy in adults with prejudice views may be more difficult to accomplish.

.The success of Aronson's Jigsaw technique may have been due in part of ther role of the teacher. The technique relies on the skill of the teacher establishing a norm of mutual respect and cooperation, treating each student equally regardless of race.