Can Perceived Assimilation Reduce Threat (and Therefore Prejudice)?

If reducing prejudice really is a matter of reducing the threat felt by members of the "in" and "out" groups (as defined in the classic research by Stephan and Stephan), there seem to be two major ways to do that:

1. Convince the "in" group that the "out" group really isn't that scary.
2. Cause the "out" group to seem a lot more like the "in" group, so they won't seem so scary.

Sometimes, both strategies are employed simultaneously. Take this publication by the U.S. State Department, for example. The 66-page full-color document was published in the years after 9/11, when a number of studies focused on what it was like for perfectly "normal," non-terrorist Muslims to be living in a country whose citizens were suddenly hyper-concerned about the potential threats of people from the Middle East.

The document is notable because it because it strives to show that Muslims (member of the "out" group) aren't dangerous because they're just like Americans (who make up the "in" group). Replete with photos of young Muslim women in head coverings shooting layups on high school basketball courts and Muslim couples grocery shopping at Walmart, the publication tries to show the "Americanization" of American Muslims.

The title of the introduction is especially telling: "I am a Muslim with an American Soul." Written by Chicago interfaith leader Eboo Patel, a child of Muslim immigrants from India, the two-page introduction establishes John Winthrop's "city on a hill" allusion as the goal for America; Patel writes that the country should continue to be a place where "diverse nations and peoples come to know one another in a spirit of brotherhood and righteousness."

The State Department's "Being Muslim in America" publication certainly helps fulfill this goal. By showing Muslims participating in everyday "American" activities, it attempts to reduce the threat some Americans might feel toward members of the religion and debunks stereotypes that Muslims have no patriotism (see pages 15-16 for the giant photo of men in a mosque praying before the stars and stripes-covered casket of one of one of their own, who was killed fighting for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan).

The question, however, is whether it works. Do prejudice-holding Americans who read this document stop feeling threatened by Muslims, at least partially? Does "proof" of Muslims' assimilation into the traditional basketball- and Walmart-loving American culture help dispel stereotypes of Muslims as terrorists?

Or maybe the deeper question: Do we just want everyone to look and act like us?