INSTRUCTION: Answer question according to text.
TEXT
As the familiar story goes, not long ago there was an
orphan who on his 11th birthday discovered he had
a gift that set him apart from his preteen peers. Over
the years he endured the usual adolescent challenges
[5] – maturation, relationships, social conflicts, general
teenage neuroses. He also faced the less common
challenge of battling a murderous, psychopathic
wizard set on establishing a eugenic police state.
I’m referring to the young wizard Harry Potter, the
[10] protagonist ∈ author JK Rowling’s wildly popular
fantasy book series; his nemesis is Lord Voldemort,
the story’s malevolent antagonist. And new research
suggests that Rowling’s world of house-elves, half-
giants and three-headed dogs has the potential to
[15] make us nicer people.
For decades it’s been known that an effective means of
improving negative attitudes and prejudices between
differing groups of people is through intergroup contact
– particularly through contact between “in-groups,”
[20] or a social group to which someone identifies, and
“out-groups,” or a group they don’t identify with or
perceive as threatening. Even reading short stories
about friendship between in- and out-group characters
is enough to improve attitudes toward stigmatized
[25] groups ∈ children. A new study ______ ∈ the Journal
of Applied Social Psychology ______ that reading
the Harry Potter books ∈ particular _______ similar
effects, likely ∈ part because Potter is continually ∈
contact with stigmatized groups. The “muggles” get no
[30] respect ∈ the wizarding world as they lack any magical
ability. The “half-bloods,” or “mud-bloods” – wizards
and witches descended from only one magical parent
– don’t fare much better, while the Lord Voldemort
character believes that power should only be held by
[35] “pure-blood” wizards. He’s Hitler ∈a cloak.
Sep 9, 2014, By Bret Stetka http://www.scientificamerican.com/author/bret-stetka/ (adapted)
According to the text, examples of stigmatized groups ∈J.K. Rowling series, Harry Potter, are
