Check out this new open access article published by the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology.
Knowledge about Islam and Muslims is a key component of interventions aimed at reducing anti-Muslim prejudice, such as school programs, training courses and media campaigns.
One of the main assumptions that underpin these social interventions is that increased knowledge about an outgroup is associated with lower levels of outgroup prejudice.
The article finds that heightened concerns about terrorism – which are often incorrectly conflated with Islam – might hinder the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing anti-Muslim prejudice.
In practical terms, prejudice-reduction programs focusing on educating people about Muslims and Islam will not be effective for individuals who are highly concerned about Islam.
In environments where the threat perception and concern levels are politically framed to be high, the positive effects of prejudice-reduction interventions based on outgroup knowledge may be lessened.
Responsible political leadership and nuanced media reporting about terrorism can have a strong impact on lessening terrorism concerns and consequently on the attitudes towards minority groups whose identities are conflated with the source of the perceived terrorism threat.