Imagined Intergroup Contact Reduces Prejudice Against Suicide Loss Survivors;

An Empirical Study with Japanese Undergraduates

Abstract

Background: This study examined whether imagined intergroup contact reduced prejudice against suicide loss survivors in Japanese undergraduates.
Methods: Participants were randomly divided into the following two groups: imagined contact and control. The imagined contact group included 53 participants, and the control group included 48 participants. Participants assigned to the imagined contact group were asked to imagine meeting and comfortably talking with a suicide loss survivor for two minutes. Participants assigned to the control group were asked to think about suicide loss survivors for two minutes. Then, all participants responded to 5 questions assessing social distance and 11 questions about their impressions of suicide loss survivors. The five items for social distance were measured on a 6-point scale. The eleven items for their impressions of suicide loss survivors were measured on 7-point semantic differential rating.
Results: For social distance, participants assigned to the imagined contact group considered survivors were significantly less psychologically disturbed and less to blame for the death. Then, an exploratory factor analysis of the 11 items of the scale for impressions of suicide loss survivors was conducted, and the following two factors were derived: “Anticipated Survivor Affect” and “Negative Affect.” Results indicated that participants assigned to the imagined contact group considered survivors had significantly less “Negative Affect” toward survivors.
Conclusion: It was showed that imagined contact with a suicide loss survivor had a certain influence on reducing prejudice against suicide loss survivors.