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4 results on '"Aleah S. M. Fontaine"'

1. The influence of Survivor stories and a virtual reality representation of a residential school on reconciliation in Canada

Author

Katherine B. Starzyk, Iloradanon H. Efimoff, Katelin Helene Siemens Neufeld, Andrew Woolford, Aleah S. M. Fontaine, James E. Young, Andrea Bunt, Jessica Trickey, Struan Sinclair, and Adam Muller

Subjects
residential schools, Canada, virtual reality, critical historical education, attitudes, empathy, Psychology, BF1-990
Abstract

Indigenous Peoples in Canada have endured many genocidal efforts, such as residential schools. Across the country, initiatives to promote critical historical education about residential schools are underway, ranging in duration, content, and immersion. In this study, we tested whether a promising high-immersion approach, a virtual reality residential school, could improve non-Indigenous participants' attitudes and feelings toward Indigenous people. We compared the effects of the virtual residential school to a transcript condition, in which participants read the transcripts of the narration that accompanied the virtual residential school, and an empty control condition. The study had three time points: Baseline (N = 241), intervention (N = 241), and follow-up (N = 132). Immediately following the intervention, what participants learned about the residential school, both through virtual reality and reading the transcripts, increased non-Indigenous participants' empathy, political solidarity, and outgroup warmth for Indigenous people, relative to the control. The virtual reality school, but not transcripts, also increased privity relative to the control. These effects decreased over time. In summary, though both written and virtual reality forms of critical historical education were effective in the short term, to maintain the long-term effects of critical historical education, ongoing or recurring education is likely necessary. These results extend the virtual reality literature to unstudied concepts (political solidarity, privity) and critical historical education literature to a new form of media (virtual reality). We discuss the findings in relation to literature on critical historical education and virtual reality as well as outline future directions.

Published
2024
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3. 'Is Water a Human Right?': Priming Water as a Human Right Increases Support for Government Action

Author

Jacquie D. Vorauer, Danielle Gaucher, Matthew S. Quesnel, Alexa R. Yakubovich, Katherine B. Starzyk, Aleah S. M. Fontaine, and Katelin H. S. Neufeld

Subjects
Cultural Studies, Government, Social Sciences and Humanities, suffering, Sociology and Political Science, Human rights, media_common.quotation_subject, support for government action, drinking water, Control (management), Public administration, human rights, Indigenous, Framing (social sciences), Action (philosophy), Anthropology, Political science, General partnership, Priming (media), Sciences Humaines et Sociales, empathy, media_common
Abstract

Many First Nations homes in Canada do not have adequate water services. This issue is unlikely to be resolved without public pressure on the government. Thus, we investigated one strategy to increase non-Indigenous Canadians’ support for government action: framing water as a human right. Informed by a partnership with Indigenous community members and multidisciplinary collaborators, we conducted seven experiments that sampled non-Indigenous Canadian community members (N = 584) and university undergraduates (N = 274). Overall, framing water as a human right increased public support, relative to control conditions. Further, the human rights frame indirectly increased support for government action through increases in perceived suffering (physical and financial) and empathy. We discuss policy implications and end with a call for action.

Published
2021

4. How Low Can You(r Power) Go? It Depends on Whether You are Male or Female

Author

Aleah S. M. Fontaine and Jacquie D. Vorauer

Subjects
Social Psychology, media_common.quotation_subject, 05 social sciences, 050109 social psychology, Gender Studies, Power (social and political), Higher Power, 5. Gender equality, Feeling, Developmental and Educational Psychology, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, Psychology, Social psychology, 050104 developmental & child psychology, media_common
Abstract

Three online experiments were conducted to determine whether gender differences in feelings of power are most evident in objectively lower or higher power situations (total n = 1360; Studies 1 and 2: 238 and 771 U.S. MTurk respondents respectively; Study 3: 351 Canadian university students). We focused on evaluating whether men’s and women’s responses were in line with a cushioning account, whereby the higher power generally accorded to men as a group essentially serves as a back-up power source for men in lower power positions. We also evaluated support for a ceiling account, whereby women’s feelings of power are limited in higher power positions. Results were consistent with the cushioning account: Men reported feeling more powerful than women did when imagining or recalling occupying a lower power position and in a control baseline, but no gender difference was evident under higher power conditions. Results further revealed that women’s feelings of power were more variable across lower versus higher power positions than were men’s and indicated that women’s feelings of power are quite responsive to situationally afforded high power when it is available. Overall our findings suggest that occupying a higher power role eradicates gender differences in feelings of power that are otherwise evident and thus has an equalizing effect.

Published
2018

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