MindCraft Challenge #3
About a decade ago, a music professor and a social work professor asked Jewish and Arab women in Israel to join in a music-listening experiment. The women listened to songs about either the Holocaust or fallen Israeli soldiers, sung by either a Jewish or Arab singer. Hearing a national song that did not reference the Israeli-Arab conflict (the Holocaust songs) sung by an Arab singer (an out-group member) reduced prejudice and humanized people from the other group.
Challenge:
You will need to involve another person—specifically someone from a different cultural, generational, racial, or religious background than you. Share songs (not linked to intergroup conflict) that represent your background with them and either teach them to sing or play them, or listen to the songs together. If they would like to share songs with you, accept the offer. Does your perception of a person from a different background change?
Read More:
The Israeli-Arab song study
https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735616640599
Playing music together builds empathy in children
https://doi.org/10.1177/0305735612440609
Music can be a tool to lower cultural prejudice
https://doi.org/10.1177/1029864918802331