Enhancing Attitudes Toward Stigmatized Groups with Movies: Mediating and Moderating Processes of Narrative Persuasion
Unfortunately, immigrant populations sometimes face the ramifications of xenophobic rhetoric. However, empathy arousing films can turn negative viewpoints of a group into more positive attitudes and beliefs. In a study by Igartua and Frutos (2017), student participants viewed Poniente, a film with a message of high empathy for immigrants. After viewing the film, the participants demonstrated improved attitudes towards immigrants compared to their scores in measures before watching the film. The results highlight the usefulness of empathy inducing film as a way to foster community and individual support for immigrant populations. Social workers could benefit their clients and influence systems change by utilizing the power of empathetic, strengths-based film narratives of immigrants in their clinical, mezzo, or macro practice. (Immigrant Integration Lab)
Igartua, J. & Frutos, F. J. (2017). Enhancing Attitudes Toward Stigmatized Groups with Movies: Mediating and Moderating Processes of Narrative Persuasion. International Journal of Communication, 11, 158-177. Retrieved from https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/5779/1891.