Improve Intergroup Attitudes Research Articles

Improving intergroup attitudes via mediated intergroup contact in a bilingual setting

Improving intergroup attitudes via mediated intergroup contact in a bilingual setting

University diversity and preparation for a global society: the role of diversity in shaping intergroup attitudes and civic outcomes

Although there is growing research showing that students' views, attitudes, and university diversity experiences promote preparation for a global society, little research is available outside of American contexts. This study utilised data collected at one Australian university to examine whether students' views and attitudes towards diversity, and their university diversity experiences, stimulate the development of key attributes needed to function effectively in a global society, namely positive intergroup attitudes and civic engagement. The findings demonstrate that high-quality engagement with curricular diversity activities (institutionally structured opportunities for students to engage with diversity) and with diverse peers (positive diversity interactions) are associated with improved intergroup attitudes and civic engagement outcomes. The findings also reveal that poor quality engagement with diverse peers (negative diversity interactions) are negatively associated with gains in these outcomes. These findings are consistent regardless of students' pre-university experience with diversity and their openness to diversity.

Verification of Ingroup Identity as a Longitudinal Mediator between Intergroup Contact and Outgroup Evaluation

Almost six decades of research have consistently demonstrated that intergroup contact is one of the most powerful ways of improving intergroup attitudes. At least two important limitations, however, still compel researchers to continue work in this area: the issue of long-term effects of contact, and the processes underlying such effects. This report makes a theoretical and empirical contribution with regard to these two aspects introducing a new mediator of the effects of contact: verification of qualities of typical ingroup members that may or may not characterize individual group members (e.g. verification of ingroup identities). One hundred and forty-two high school students participated in a two-wave longitudinal study with 12 weeks' lag in Spain. Cross-sectional and longitudinal mediational analyses using multiple imputation data showed that intergroup contact improves general outgroup evaluation through increasing verification of ingroup identities. This research demonstrates the relevance of considering verification of ingroup identity as a mediator for the positive effects of intergroup contact.

Pathways to hostile collective action: The roles of general attitudes toward the advantaged group and situational anger.

Collective action is a group behavior that aims to improve the status, power, or influence of an entire group. The present study focused on hostile collective action performed for releasing negative emotions, and explored a pathway including the roles of general attitudes toward the advantaged group and situational group-based anger in predicting the disadvantaged groups' hostile collective action. Group-level data were collected via a laboratory experiment. The results obtained using multiple regression analysis suggested that general attitudes toward the advantaged group formed before the trigger event predicted hostile collective action indirectly through the mediating effects of situational group-based anger and collective action tendencies, which were both produced after that trigger event. In addition, situational group-based anger predicted hostile collective action fully through collective action tendencies. These pathways provided a continuous process of hostile collective action in which general attitudes toward the advantaged group that were formed before the trigger events would influence situational group-based anger when the trigger events occurred, and then affected hostile collective action for responding to these events. Thus, hostile collective action could be predicted before the trigger events by monitoring the disadvantaged groups' attitudes toward the advantaged group. Moreover, reducing destructive collective action by improving intergroup attitudes through some effective interventions was discussed in this study.

Collective regret versus collective guilt: Different emotional reactions to historical atrocities

AbstractA distinction between guilt and regret in reactions to in‐group atrocities is proposed. Four studies (total N = 1249) support the notion that guilt and regret are distinct emotional reactions. Whereas guilt is a self‐focused, aversive emotional reaction following from appraisals of responsibility and associated with the intention to make amends, regret follows from an empathic victim perspective, is less aversive, and is more strongly associated with positive attitudes towards the victim groups and the intention to engage in intergroup contact. These findings suggest that less aversive emotions like regret are more likely to improve intergroup attitudes after a common history of conflict, but the aversive experience of guilt might be more potent in motivating reparations. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Improving Intergroup Attitudes through Televised Vicarious Intergroup Contact

In an experiment, participants exposed to depictions of an intergroup interaction between a border patrolling U.S. citizen and an illegal immigrant demonstrated changed attitudes toward illegal immigrants depending on the valence of the portrayal. Negative effects were enhanced among people who identified more strongly with the U.S. citizen character, and positive effects were moderately, although nonsignificantly enhanced among those who viewed the illegal immigrant character as more typical of illegal immigrants in general. Liking of the illegal immigrant character was a significant mediator of the effects. The positive effects on attitudes toward illegal immigrants transferred to more positive attitudes toward other social groups as well. The study is framed in terms of a social cognitive theory approach to vicarious intergroup contact.

Indirect contact through book reading: Improving adolescents' attitudes and behavioral intentions toward immigrants

AbstractA study was conducted to test the effects of indirect contact through book reading on the improvement of Italian students' attitudes, stereotypes, and behavioral intentions toward immigrants. The results indicated that adolescents who read a book concerning intercultural topics, compared to those who read a book unrelated to intercultural themes or to those who did not read any book, showed improved intergroup attitudes, reduction in stereotyping, more positive intergroup behavioral intentions, and an increased desire to engage in future contact. Furthermore, the effects of indirect contact were mediated by increased inclusion of other in the self and reduced group identification. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Multiracial Families and Contact Theory in South Africa: Does Direct and Extended Contact Facilitated by Multiracial Families Predict Reduced Prejudice?

Contact theory holds that increased contact between members of different groups can improve intergroup attitudes and reduce prejudice if it meets certain quality criteria, such as equal status, common goals, and cooperation within the contact situation. It is now emerging that even extended contact, or the mere knowledge that an ingroup member has a close relationship with an outgroup member, can lead to more positive intergroup attitudes. However, in South African society optimal contact is uncommon because most social spaces and structures are governed by strong norms of microsegregation that ensure that genuine optimal contact is uncommon. Given that multiracial families exemplify most features of optimal contact while radically challenging social norms of segregation, they may be important nodes for effective prejudice-reducing contact in South African society. This exploratory study investigated the extent to which general contact with people of other races, direct contact with multiracial families (i.e. personally knowing a member of a multiracial family), and extended contact with multiracial families (i.e. knowing someone who knows a member of a multiracial family) predicted reduced prejudice, reconciliatory race-policy attitudes and reduced intergroup threat. The results show that all three forms of contact predicted significantly reduced prejudice and that direct contact with multiracial families significantly predicted reduced prejudice over and above the effect of general interracial contact. Therefore we argue that contact researchers should consider more carefully whether normatively supported contact or radically norm-violating forms of contact optimally disrupt practices of microsegregation. Additionally, we argue that multiracial romantic relationships and families deserve increased attention and support as important nodes of prejudice reduction in South African society. However, general contact was also associated with reduced support for race-based social policies which supports the argument that the prejudice-reducing effects of interracial contact may be at least partially offset by other effects that may hinder broader social change.

Differential Effects of Intergroup Contact for Authoritarians and Social Dominators

Intergroup contact is among the most effective ways to improve intergroup attitudes. Research examining whether the effects of contact are contingent on individual differences is limited, however. The authors test a dual process model perspective of individual differences in contact and prejudice. Their model predicts that intergroup contact should be particularly effective for people high in right-wing authoritarianism, but not those high in social dominance orientation, because these ideological attitudes are driven by different underlying motivational goals. The authors confirm these hypotheses in longitudinal (N = 805) and cross-sectional (N = 1,343) national probability samples. They also isolate perceived social threat, but not competitive threat, as a mediator for the interaction of right-wing authoritarianism and contact on prejudice. The authors elaborate on the individual difference mechanisms that facilitate and inhibit the effects of intergroup contact on prejudice and discuss how these relations may depend on contextual factors and the varying functions of prejudice.

Moving beyond the limits of cultural competency training

Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us. London: WW Norton 2010;134–51. 12 Connor H, Tyres C, Modood T, Hillage J. Why the Difference? A Closer Look at Higher Education Minority Ethnic Students and Graduates. London: Department for Education and Skills 2004. 13 Pettigrew TF, Tropp LR. A metaanalytic test of intergroup contact theory. J Pers Soc Psychol 2006;90:751– 83. 14 Turner RN, Hewstone M, Voci A. Reducing explicit and implicit prejudice via direct and extended contact: the mediating role of selfdisclosure and intergroup anxiety. J Pers Soc Psychol 2007;93:369–88. 15 Crisp RJ, Abrams D. Improving intergroup attitudes and reducing stereotype threat: an integrated contact model. Eur Rev Soc Psychol 2008;19:242–84. 16 Todd AR, Bodenhausen GV, Richeson JA, Galinsky AD. Perspective taking combats automatic expressions of racial bias. J Pers Soc Psychol 2011(In press).

The Colorblind, Multicultural, and Polycultural Ideological Approaches to Improving Intergroup Attitudes and Relations

Scholars have long explored the colorblind and multicultural ideological approaches to improving intergroup attitudes and relations. Polyculturalism, a newly studied ideological approach, focuses on the past and current interactions and connections among different racial and ethnic groups. Drawing on cross-disciplinary work, we critically examine the various forms that each of these ideological approaches has taken across studies, and their implications for intergroup attitudes and relations among racially and ethnically diverse children, adolescents, and adults. Although each ideological approach has been examined in several ways (often combining different forms of each approach), there is sufficient comparative work to draw some conclusions. We propose that a combined ideological approach be implemented in educational settings that maximizes the strengths and positive intergroup consequences of colorblindness, multiculturalism, and polyculturalism, while minimizes the weaknesses and negative intergroup consequences of each approach.

Longitudinal effects of contact on intergroup relations: The role of majority and minority group membership and intergroup emotions

AbstractA field study was conducted in the Italian context to examine the longitudinal effects of contact on improved intergroup relations, and to test whether the effects were different for majority and minority group members. Furthermore, we examined the processes underlying contact effects. Participants were 68 Italian (majority) and 31 immigrant (minority) secondary school students, who completed a questionnaire at two time points. The results of regression analyses showed that, consistent with the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954), quantity and quality of contact longitudinally improved outgroup evaluation and increased the attribution of positive stereotypes to the outgroup; the reverse paths were non‐significant. Notably, whereas quantity of contact improved intergroup attitudes and stereotypes for both majority and minority participants, quality of contact had reliable effects only for the majority group. Intergroup anxiety and empathy mediated the longitudinal effects of quantity of contact for both Italians and immigrants; the cross‐lagged effects of contact quality on criterion variables for the Italian group were mediated by intergroup empathy. The theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Imagined Intergroup Contact: Theory, Paradigm, and Practice

A goal shared enthusiastically amongst many social psychologists is the improvement of intergroup relations. Conflict between groups is usually related to distinct, and in many cases opposing, identities, based on (for example) ethnicity, nationality, and religion, but also gender, age, sexual orientation and political or individual preferences. Our research has developed a new intervention for improving intergroup relations based on an integration of theory and empirical work on social cognition and intergroup relations. We've called the technique Imagined Contact because it is based on the mental simulation of intergroup contact experiences. Collectively, our research has focused on refining and evaluating imagined contact as an effective tool for the enhancement of intergroup relations. Our article in Social and Personality Psychology Compass provides a summary of the basic theory underlying imagined contact, a review of empirical findings to date, and a framework for developing practical applications of the intervention (in particular as a school-based intervention). We wanted to offer a teaching and learning guide for this article because we believe that the imagined contact task provides a flexible, effective, and easy-to-use tool for teachers, seminar leaders, students, and practitioners. The task can be used as a basis for encouraging more positive and open attitudes towards other groups, a way of preparing people for future intergroup encounters, a stimulus for discussions about the value in experiencing social diversity, and a way of illustrating the power of mental processes in forming and challenging attitudes about others.

Using Empathy to Improve Intergroup Attitudes and Relations

Recently, social psychologists have given considerable attention to the possibility that empathy can be used to improve intergroup attitudes and relations. For this possibility to bear practical fruit, it is important to know what is meant by empathy because different researchers use the term to refer to different psychological states. It is also important to understand how each of these empathy states might affect intergroup relations by reviewing theory and research on the psychological processes involved, and it is important to consider the limitations of each form of empathy as a source of improved intergroup relations. Finally, it is important to consider the role of different empathy states in existing programs designed to improve intergroup relations, whether in protracted political conflicts, in educational settings, or via media. In this article, we pursue each of these goals.

Perspective Taking: Reducing Prejudice Towards General Outgroups and Specific Individuals

Previous research has found that perspective taking improves attitudes towards outgroups. We find that taking the perspective of an outgroup member not only improves attitudes towards outgroups, but also reduces prejudice and discriminatory behavior against other specific individual members of that outgroup. Experiment 1 demonstrates that perspective-taking improves liking towards another member of the outgroup, while experiment 2 finds that the improved liking does not generalize to all outgroups, only the group to which the target of empathy belongs. Finally, experiment 3 shows that perspective taking also increases helping behavior towards another member of the outgroup. Moreover, we find evidence that perspective taking improves intergroup attitudes through the induction of empathy.

Improving intergroup attitudes and reducing stereotype threat: An integrated contact model

In this chapter we develop an intergroup contact model of stereotype threat effects. We review research on improving intergroup relations and reducing stereotype threat. We then propose an integrated model that specifies the processes through which both actual and imagined intergroup contact reduce the impact of stereotypes on behaviour. We discuss support for this model and, drawing on social identity theory, how changing intergroup relations produces interrelated effects on perceptions of the self, ingroup, and outgroup. This review documents an emerging, wider range of benefits that accrue from intergroup contact. It illustrates how such interventions not only challenge prejudiced attitudes, but can also free individuals from the negative impact of stereotypes in a range of other domains. Finally we discuss the practical benefits of taking this integrated perspective and outline an agenda for future work.

Threat inoculation: Experienced and imagined intergenerational contact prevents stereotype threat effects on older people's math performance.

The authors hypothesized that experienced and imagined intergenerational contact should improve older people's math test performance under stereotype threat. In Experiment 1 (N=51, mean age=69 years), positive prior contact with grandchildren eliminated stereotype threat, which was mediated partially by reduced test-related anxiety. In Experiment 2 (N=84, mean age=72 years), the effect of threat on performance was significantly improved when participants merely imagined intergenerational contact, a situation again mediated by reduced anxiety. Previous research established that intergroup contact improves intergroup attitudes. The findings show that intergroup (intergenerational) contact also provides a defense against stereotype threat.

Imagining Intergroup Contact Can Improve Intergroup Attitudes

We investigated whether simply imagining contact with outgroup members can improve intergroup attitudes. In Experiment 1, young participants who imagined talking to an elderly person subsequently showed lower levels of intergroup bias than participants who imagined an outdoor scene. In Experiment 2, young participants who imagined talking to an elderly person subsequently showed lower levels of intergroup bias than participants who simply thought about elderly people, ruling out a priming explanation for our findings. In Experiment 3, heterosexual men who imagined talking to a homosexual man subsequently evaluated homosexual men more positively, perceived there to be greater variability among them, and experienced less intergroup anxiety compared to a control group. The effect of imagined contact on outgroup evaluations was mediated by reduced intergroup anxiety. These findings suggest that imagining intergroup contact could represent a viable alternative for reducing prejudice where actual contact between groups is impractical.

Contact, Perspective Taking, and Anxiety as Predictors of Stereotype Endorsement, Explicit Attitudes, and Implicit Attitudes

We proposed a model of intergroup contact wherein contact promotes understanding of outgroup perspectives, perspective taking relates to reduced intergroup anxiety that in turn is associated with lessened stereotyping and more positive intergroup attitudes. Additionally, we examined if implicit attitudes followed this model or were directly impacted by contact. White undergraduates ( n = 153) completed measures of contact, perspective taking, intergroup anxiety, stereotype endorsement, and implicit and explicit intergroup attitudes. Our model fitted the data well but explained explicit attitudes and stereotyping better than implicit attitudes. Supporting an environmental association interpretation, contact was the only significant predictor of implicit attitudes. Findings support a dual-process model wherein implicit and explicit attitudes represent separate constructs and support the value of contact in improving intergroup attitudes.

Intergroup contact and intergroup attitudes: a longitudinal study

AbstractA longitudinal study (N = 109) of interschool contact and attitudes was conducted to test Allport's (1954) Contact Hypothesis and Brown and Hewstone's (2005) addendum to it on the moderating role of typicality in the contact‐attitude relationship. Three different measures of intergroup attitude were employed, including a new measure of infrahumanisation (Leyens et al., 2000). Support for the hypotheses was found on all three measures in the longitudinal analyses. Quantity of contact with a member of the outgroup was consistently associated with more favourable attitudes towards the outgroup as a whole. Importantly, contact was found to predict attitude but the reverse causal path was not significant. Also, on one measure there was an indication that the effects of contact quality were more beneficial when the contact persons were seen as typical of the outgroup than when they were not. It is concluded that, as originally hypothesised by Allport, contact with members of an outgroup can improve intergroup attitudes, but especially if those people can be seen as representative of their group. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.