Facilitating police-minority youth attitude change: The effects of cooperation within a competitive context and exposure to multiple exemplars

Previous attempts to bridge the gap between police and minority youths have not been successful in changing minority youths' attitudes toward officers. Two intervention programs were designed to produce positive information regarding out-group exemplars and generalization of this information to the overall out-group for police and minority youths. Evaluations of attitudes toward team members and the out-group were conducted to assess the interventions' effectiveness. In Study 1, police (n = 26) and minority youths (n = 51) competed together on heterogeneous basketball teams. Pre- and post-intervention data were compared. Police and youths reported positive ratings of out-group team members. Only the police officers demonstrated a positive shift in their attitudes toward the overall out-group. Both groups demonstrated a reduction in perceived heterogeneity of the out-group. Post hoc analyses examined the response of the youths to the intervention as well. as the decreased heterogeneity ratings. In Study 2, a similar program was evaluated to address some limitations of the first study. The police (n = 49) and minority youths (n = 40) competed together for two games on teams composed of one youth and three officers or three youths and one officer. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: pre-contact, exposure to one exemplar, and exposure to multiple exemplars. No contact versus contact and exposure to one versus multiple exemplar conditions were compared on attitudes toward the overall out-group. Both groups reported positive ratings of out-group team members. Exposure groups did not differ significantly from the control group in rating of the overall out-group on attitude and heterogeneity. Exposure to multiple exemplars was not associated with more positive ratings of the out-group as compared to exposure to a singular exemplar. Post hoc analyses explored the lack of attitude and heterogeneity change. Overall, results suggested that a short-term competitive context can result in the production of positive information regarding out-group exemplars. Results from the first study suggest that the contact may result in positive attitude change regarding the overall out-group. Further research is needed to replicate these findings.