Confronting Prejudiced Comments: Effectiveness of a Role-Playing Exercise

Abstract

We examined whether a role-playing exercise, similar to that developed by Plous (2000), increases students' ability to generate effective responses to prejudiced comments. We assessed social psychology students' (n = 23) ability to respond to prejudiced comments before and after the exercise, and compared their performance to that of 2 other groups of students (total n = 38) who did not participate in the exercise. Results showed that the exercise increased students' ability to generate effective responses to prejudiced comments. If students apply this skill in their daily lives, it could lead to a reduction in the overt expression of prejudice among others.