This study evaluated the effectiveness of a vicarious contact intervention program for improving knowledge and attitudes of Jewish-Israeli secular and religious children regarding their ingroup and three outgroups: secular/religious Jews, Ethiopian-descendant Jews, and Arabs. One hundred and nine kindergartners participated in a four-week intervention, in which experimenters introduced to them four persona dolls representing the different groups. Accompanied by stories, children were exposed to the dolls’ individual and group characteristics, and to positive encounters between the dolls. A pre- and post-test battery assessed the intervention’s effects on children’s intergroup knowledge and attitudes. Findings revealed an increase in children’s knowledge of the groups, improvements in religious children’s attitudes towards Arabs, and in both secular and religious children’s willingness to sit closer to Ethiopian-descendant children. These findings highlight the potential of indirect contact for reducing intergroup bias in young children living in multicultural and conflict-ridden societies.

这项研究评估了替代接触干预计划对提高犹太-以色列世俗和宗教儿童的内向和外向群体的知识和态度的有效性，这三类分别是世俗/宗教犹太人，埃塞俄比亚后裔犹太人和阿拉伯人。一百九个幼儿园的参与者参加了为期四周的干预，其中实验者向他们介绍了代表不同群体的四个角色娃娃。伴随着故事，孩子们接触到了娃娃的个人和群体特征，以及娃娃之间的积极相遇。测试前和测试后的电池组评估了干预措施对儿童群体间知识和态度的影响。调查结果表明，儿童对这些群体的了解有所增加，宗教儿童对阿拉伯人的态度有所改善，并且无论是世俗的还是宗教的孩子，他们都愿意离埃塞俄比亚后裔的孩子更近一些。这些发现凸显了间接接触的潜力，可以减少生活在多元文化和充满冲突的社会中的幼儿的群体间偏见。