Deprovincialization as a key correlate of ideology, prejudice, and intergroup contact

Abstract

This paper aimed to examine deprovincialization, defined as a less ingroup-centric worldview fostering openness to other cultures and outgroups, and to test its relationships with personality, cognitive styles, values, political ideologies, intergroup contact, and prejudice. In Study 1, we proved the factorial validity of the Cultural Deprovincialization Scale (CDS), an instrument specifically designed to assess a growing acceptance of other peoples and cultures following intergroup encounters, and we provided evidence for its construct validity by exploring its nomological net. People scoring higher on the CDS were more extraverted, agreeable, open to experience, cognitively flexible, and scored lower on social dominance orientation, right-wing authoritarianism, and nationalism. Moreover, deprovincialized people reported higher scores on positive contact, lower scores on negative contact, better outgroup attitudes, and lower levels of prejudice. In Study 2, using a longitudinal design, we tested the within- and between-individual associations that deprovincialization had with positive and negative intergroup contact, outgroup attitudes, and prejudice. Both between-individual and within-individual variations in positive and negative contact predicted time-varying deprovincialization, whereas between-individual and within-individual variations in deprovincialization predicted time-varying outgroup attitudes and prejudice, controlling for age, gender, and social dominance orientation, and also for contact when deprovincialization was a predictor.