Influence of student exchange on national stereotypes, attitudes and perceived group variability

✍ Scribed by CHARLES STANGOR; KLAUS JONAS; WOLFGANG STROEBE; MILES HEWSTONE

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 790 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0046-2772
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199607)26:4<663::aid-ejsp778>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

The present research studied changes in stereotypes, attitudes and perceived variability of national groups within a sample of US. college students who spent one year studying in either West Germany' or Great Britain. Subjects' stereotypes and attitudes toward host country members changed significantly during their stay, whereas attitudes and stereotypes toward control nationalities did not, and neither attitudes nor stereotypes further changed during the first nine months after subjects had returned home. On the other hand, perceptions of group variability changed significantly both during the stay and after departure from the host country. Although group perceptions generally became less positive over the course of the sojourn, these changes did not seem to be due to negative intergroup contact. Rather, the more contact students reported having with 'West and East Germans are differentiated because the study was begun before the r e u d h t i o n .