Reducing antisemitism and other prejudices: Can biographical intergroup contact help to prevent radicalization?

Biographical intergroup contact, through which participants learn about the life and perspective of a real outgroup member, is potentially a powerful new prejudice reduction tool which challenges antisemitism as a means of reducing extremism initially against Jewish people, and by extension to other stigmatized groups. Impact evaluation of two field studies tested the effects of biographical contact on children and adolescents’ willingness to have intergroup contact with Jewish people and six other groups that are commonly the target of extremism. Biographical contact was implemented through an anti-prejudice education program led by the charity the Anne Frank Trust UK and was based on the life and diary of the Jewish teenager Anne Frank. In Study 1, with young people between the ages of 12 and 15 years (N = 122), pre- and post-measures showed that the program significantly improved young people’s willingness for contact with Jewish people, and that change predicted 43% of the variance in improvement in attitudes towards the six other groups. Study 2, with children aged 8 to 12 years (N =330) confirmed significant improvements in three hypothesized mechanisms: knowledge, intergroup empathy and confidence in intergroup communication. Theoretical and practical implications for preventing extremism and radicalization are discussed.