Promoting positive attitudes toward peers with disabilities

What is it about?

We conducted an experimental study to examine the effectiveness of an intervention for elementary school students to promote school inclusion. We compared an intervention providing only positive information about peers with sensory disability, intellectual disability, and behavioral difficulties (cognitive intervention), an intervention using only imagined contact with peers with these disabilities (behavioral intervention), and an intervention combining information with imagined contact, against a no-intervention control condition. Results revealed that the combined cognitive and behavioral intervention was more effective in improving students’ attitudes towards peers with disabilities.

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Photo by Agence Olloweb on Unsplash

Photo by Agence Olloweb on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study enriches developmental and social psychological theories of intergroup contact, showing, for the first time, that the combined strategy of both information and imagined contact is successful in improving typically developing children’s attitudes towards peers with disabilities.

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