An Investigation of the Impact of Reading on Attitudes of Racial Prejudice.

The effect of reading works of a literary nature on the modification of certain attitudes toward Negroes of a selected white urban high school population was investigated. Nine books were selected as prescribed reading; the books were of mixed genre: six fiction, two non-fiction, and one photographic essay. Attitude scales administered to the subjects consisted of the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, the Hinckley Scale of Attitudes toward the Negro, the Thurstone Scale of Attitude toward Negroes, and the Triandis Behavioral Differential. Standardized tests administered were the English Cooperative Test: Reading Comprehension, and the Otis Quick-Scoring Mental Ability Test: New Edition, Gamma Test. Results indicate: (1) The reading of selected works of a literary nature about the Negro changed the subjects' attitude in a direction favorable to the Negro; (2) The boys seemed to have experienced greater improvement than the girls; (3) The girls showed some gain; however, the change was not statistically significant; (4) There was a significant positive correlation at the .01 level for the boys between IQ and attitude toward the Negro; (5) There was no signification relationship between IQ and attitudes of the girls or of the group; and (6) There was a significant positive relationship at the .01 level for the boys between reading comprehension and attitude toward the Negro found in the correlation of reading comprehension with the pre-test. (Author/CK)