Intergroup Contact Experiences Research Articles

The interplay between teaching for social justice beliefs and intergroup contact experiences in teachers’ responses to new curricular autonomy

ABSTRACT This study explores how South Korean teachers’ beliefs about social justice teaching intersect with their intergroup contact experiences when teaching migrant students under expanded curriculum autonomy. A comparative qualitative case study approach was used, drawing on interviews, classroom observations, and stimulated recalls. The findings reveal three models of social justice teaching – functional, critical, and liberal – as manifest in each teacher’s practice. The discussion highlights two key aspects: First, regarding contact experiences, teachers’ experience of being minoritized in intergroup contact has a more pronounced effect on their prejudice reduction than the density or frequency of contact per se; and indirect contact with outgroup members can be as effective as direct contact in reducing stereotypes. Second, concerning teacher beliefs and policy implementation, teachers’ beliefs significantly shape their interactions with minoritized students; and increased curriculum autonomy does not necessarily lead to critical social justice teaching. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

The role of norms as promoters of social change

AbstractLife in society revolves around social norms. These norms play a crucial role in regulating and influencing individuals’ behavior, both at the societal and individual levels. They offer a psychological framework that reduces uncertainty, guides behavior, and aids people in adapting to their social surroundings. Moreover, by observing prevailing social norms, individuals gain insights into societal trends that preserve cherished values and traditions across generations, thus mapping the dynamics of social stability and change. Social change is closely tied to shifts in these norms, which can occur at varying speeds, influenced by factors at multiple levels of analysis, including societal, group, and individual levels. In this article, I analyze the various concepts of social norms found in the literature, with a particular focus on their role in psychology. I describe the main sources of normative influence and illustrate, with multiple examples, how they operate in different social contexts. In this way, I address how these norms guide and facilitate participation in collective actions, their intergenerational transmission, and their role in the emergence of radicalization in social protest contexts. Furthermore, I delve into how group norms are linked to intergroup contact experiences involving both advantaged and disadvantaged group members, as well as the expression of prejudice and affective polarization. I conclude by emphasizing the necessity of adopting a multilevel approach to comprehend the connection between norms and social change.

Open your eyes, open your mind: The profile of cognitive liberalization and intergroup contact experiences

AbstractAccording to the cognitive liberalization hypothesis, exposure to intergroup contact improves cognitive outcomes related to open‐mindedness and out‐of‐the‐box thinking. In a sample of Italian adults (N = 708), we: (a) investigated the profile of cognitive liberalization through a latent profile analysis including cognitive (i.e., cognitive flexibility, socio‐cognitive mindfulness, curiosity and low need for structure) and socio‐cultural (i.e., deprovincialization, beliefs supporting societal diversity and low social dominance orientation [SDO]) dimensions of cognitive liberalization; (b) tested how intergroup contact experiences differed between the profile of cognitive liberalization and the other profiles. Results showed three profiles: Cognitive Liberalization (high scores in both cognitive and socio‐cultural dimensions of cognitive liberalization), Cognitive Rigidity (low scores on cognitive, high scores in socio‐cultural dimensions) and Anti‐Liberalization (low scores on all liberalization variables). Individuals belonging to the Cognitive Liberalization profile reported less negative, and more positive and intimate contact experiences with the outgroup compared with the other two profiles; they had a higher proportion of outgroup members in their acquaintances, and perceived those outgroup members involved in positive contact as more representative of their outgroup. Diversity of contacted outgroup members did not matter for the profiles. Close and positive relationships with the outgroup could be key to cognitive liberalization. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's .

Longitudinal associations between intergroup contact and intergroup trust among adolescents in ethnic regions of China

Intergroup trust is a crucial psychological foundation for promoting ethnic unity and maintaining social stability. This study explored the dynamic relationship between intergroup contact and trust among adolescents in ethnic regions of China and sought to uncover the mechanisms behind this relationship. Through a two-wave longitudinal survey of 679 adolescents, employing the Intergroup Contact Experience Scale, the Intergroup Trust Scale, and the UCLA Loneliness Scale, the study yielded several findings: (1) Over the year, a significant increase in intergroup contact was observed among the adolescents. Notably, junior high students demonstrated a marked rise in intergroup trust, whereas no significant change was discernible in high school students. (2) Cross-lagged analysis indicated that early intergroup contact significantly predicted subsequent intergroup trust and loneliness. Initial loneliness also forecasted future intergroup trust, yet early intergroup trust did not predict later intergroup contact or loneliness. (3) Loneliness served as a partial mediator in the longitudinal link between intergroup contact and trust among these adolescents. These findings reinforce the premise that in China’s ethnic regions, intergroup contact is a precursor to intergroup trust, both directly enhancing trust among adolescents and indirectly by reducing loneliness.

Attitudes toward ethnic minorities among Thai students in Chiang Mai, Thailand

The increase of cultural diversity in Chiang Mai society has generated the need for introducing intercultural education in the educational system. It is crucial to prepare the young generation to interact with those perceived as “different.” The aim of the current study is to examine the majority attitude of Gen Z school students toward ethnic minority groups in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The study was based on an online survey with 14- to 19-year-old adolescents from the members of the majority group (Khon Muang). Data was collected from 265 students across two schools, a multicultural school (MS) and a predominantly Thai school (PTS). The study gathered demographic information, attitudes toward minorities, and intergroup contact experiences. Our results show generally positive attitudes toward ethnic minorities among the participants, with a significant proportion supporting social inclusion. However, students from the predominantly Thai school (PTS) demonstrated statistically significant, more negative attitudes regarding realistic threat, compared to the students from the multicultural school (MS). Gender differences in attitudes were contrast to our expectation, showing that the acceptance of intergroup marriage was positively higher in male groups. The study showed an expected association between the number of outgroup friendships and more positive outgroup attitudes. Lastly, factors such as gender and maternal education were explored by regression analysis on the perceptions of realistic threat, but these did not significantly predict attitudes toward ethnic minorities among Thai students. The findings point to the importance of supporting cultural diversity in schools and promoting multicultural education in the classroom.

Exploring the future: introduction of a new paradigm to examine intergroup experiences

Intergroup contact theory, as one of the most established research strands in social psychology, has mostly relied on overall measured averages of intergroup contact over larger time spans. Yet, in everyday life, intergroup contact experiences are far more complex: they are sequential and cumulative and may vary on a range of dimensions, such as, for example, their perceived valence. In this article, I introduce a new experimental paradigm, primarily developed as a research manipulation, to examine intergroup contact, manipulated on the unit of single interactions in a video-game setting, which can also be run from a web server, so that participants can join from their home computers. Depending on experimental condition, in a first study, participants rated the perceived quality of multiple positive or negative intergroup interactions with an alien species and intergroup attitudes in a storytelling questionnaire setting (Pilot Study, N = 242). Study 1 implemented these positive and negative interactions in a video game, which was played in the laboratory (N = 44), and examined their effects on the perceived contact quality and intergroup attitudes. Study 2 (N = 64) utilized a web-based version of the video game to test the effects on intergroup attitudes. In all three studies participants in the positive condition evaluated the interactions, as well as the overall outgroup, more positive than participants in the negative condition. Furthermore, Study 1 and 2 explored participants' perception of the virtual environment and previous experiences with video games. The results suggest that specifically developed video games offer new pathways to study intergroup interactions.

How Positive and Negative Intergroup Contact May Shape the Communication of Discrimination Toward Migrants

This study investigates the impact of intergroup contact of White British adults ( N = 192) on the language used when describing their recent interactions with Asian British people. Specifically, we assessed the role of different forms of intergroup contact (i.e., cross-group friendship, positive and negative, and direct and extended contact) on the abstraction of negative terms used by White British people, as a linguistic measure of outgroup derogation. As expected, the frequency of direct negative intergroup contact was associated with higher negative language abstraction in depicting Asian British people. However, this association was weaker for White British people with higher levels of positive direct and extended intergroup contacts compared to those with lower levels of positive direct and extended contact. Overall, results emphasize the importance of independently analyzing the impact of positive and negative intergroup contact experiences, as well as understanding how they interact with each other in the communication of intergroup discrimination.

A Mindful Path Toward Prejudice Reduction: Key Mindfulness Facets and Mediators for Promoting Positive Intergroup Relations

ObjectivesMindfulness might promote an open, accepting, less stereotypical view of people belonging to other social groups. We hypothesized positive cross-sectional (H1) and longitudinal (H2) associations between dispositional mindfulness — especially the Observing facet — and positive intergroup outcomes (i.e., better intergroup attitudes and contact experiences, lower intergroup prejudice, higher deprovincialization), and that those associations would be mediated by dispositional curiosity and reflection (H3).MethodWe tested H1 in Study 1 (two waves, 1-month interval, n = 102) and Study 2 (cross-sectional, n = 679), with linear models in which attitudes and prejudice toward immigrants, contact with immigrants (only in Study 2), and deprovincialization were predicted by mindfulness facets. We tested H2 in Study 1, with cross-lagged path models replicating the cross-sectional analyses, and H3 in Study 2, with structural equation models in which Reflection, Joyous Exploration, Stress Tolerance, and Social Curiosity mediated the relationships between facets of dispositional mindfulness and intergroup outcomes.ResultsResults largely supported hypotheses. Consistent with H1, in Studies 1 and 2, Observing was associated with all intergroup outcomes; in Study 2, Describing was associated with higher deprovincialization, better attitudes, and lower prejudice, and Nonjudging with higher deprovincialization and positive contact. As for H2, we found a unidirectional association from Observing to attitudes. Concerning H3, we found mediating paths between some mindfulness facets and intergroup outcomes through Reflection, Joyous Exploration, Stress Tolerance, and Social Curiosity.ConclusionsResults support the possibility to build prejudice reduction interventions grounded on mindfulness, to increase awareness of negative stereotypes and openness to differences among people.PreregistrationThe study was not preregistered.

Ironies of proximity: Intergroup threat and contact avoidance on neighbourhood interface areas

AbstractResearch on the dynamics of neighbourhood desegregation and diversity has identified a paradox. On the one hand, such processes may engender positive intergroup contact experiences, improving intergroup attitudes and relations. On the other hand, they may have the opposite effect, exacerbating negative intergroup relations and generating new forms of avoidance and exclusion. The present research explored one aspect of this paradox. Building on a field survey conducted with Indian residents (n = 364) of a suburb of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, we demonstrate how their relative proximity to areas occupied by ‘incoming’ Black African residents has shaped their perceptions of intergroup threat and associated reactions such as contact avoidance, boundary fortification and support for policies resisting desegregation. At the same time, we demonstrate how such effects are moderated by residents' wider experiences of positive interracial contact. In conclusion, we emphasize the need to better integrate psychological work on the contact hypothesis with work in companion disciplines such as urban studies and human geography. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.

The Family Transmission of Ethnic Prejudice: A Systematic Review of Research Articles with Adolescents

Ethnic prejudice is one of the most studied topics in social psychology. Empirical research on its development and intergenerational transmission is increasing but still scarce. This systematic review collected and analyzed psychosocial studies focused on the transmission of ethnic prejudice within families with adolescents. Specifically, it aimed at addressing the following research questions: (a) To what extent is there a vertical (between parents and children) and horizontal (between siblings) transmission of ethnic prejudice within the family? (b) Is this process unidirectional (from parents to children) or bidirectional (between parents and children)? (c) Which individual and/or relational variables influence this process? (d) Can adolescents’ intergroup contact experiences affect the family influence on adolescents’ ethnic prejudice? The literature search of four databases (Ebsco, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science), carried out from February 2021 to May 2021, following the PRISMA guidelines, yielded 22 articles that matched the eligibility criteria. The findings highlighted a moderate bidirectional transmission of ethnic prejudice between parents and adolescents, which was influenced by several individual and relational variables (e.g., the adolescents’ age and sex and the family relationship quality). Moreover, the adolescents’ frequent and positive contacts with peers of different ethnicities reduced the parents’ influence on the adolescents’ ethnic prejudice. The findings are discussed, and their limitations and implications for intervention and future research are considered.

Talking to a (Segregation) Wall: Intergroup Contact and Attitudes Toward Normalization Among Palestinians From the Occupied Territories

This article examines how Palestinians' intergroup contact experiences relate to their attitudes towards interactions with Israelis (i.e., normalization). We draw on four recent advances in intergroup contact literature. First, recent research indicates that positive contact can impede disadvantaged groups' motivation to challenge inequalities. Second, increased endorsement of normalization mediates this sedative effect of positive contact on motivation to resist in the West Bank. Third, negative contact has been related to increased motivation for social change. Fourth, institutions and societal norms shape the meaning of intergroup contact and its effect on intergroup relations. We hypothesize that negative experiences at checkpoints can act as reminders of institutionalized inequalities and thus attenuate sedative effects. Furthermore, we explore the contextual boundary conditions of such reminder effects. Analyses of cross‐sectional survey conducted among a representative sample (N = 1,000) in the West Bank including Jerusalem showed that (1) positive intergroup contact related to normalization endorsement (sedative effect), (2) negative intergroup contact related to decreased normalization endorsement (mobilizing effect), and (3) negative contact experiences (at checkpoints) canceled out the effect of positive contact (reminder effect), but only in Jerusalem. Results suggest that the impacts of intergroup contact need to be interpreted in light of institutionalized forms of group inequality and segregation.

Multicultural attitudes of prospective teachers: The influence of multicultural ideology and national pride

Attitudes toward multiculturalism in educational contexts – i.e., multicultural attitudes – are desirable qualities for good teaching practices. Unfortunately, little is known about the antecedents of prospective teachers’ multicultural attitudes. Before this backdrop, we argue that prospective teachers’ multicultural ideology, national pride, and intergroup contact are related to their multicultural attitudes. Studying these relationships can offer valuable insights for initial teacher education programs. We assessed prospective teachers’ (n = 72) multicultural attitudes (adapted version of the Teachers’ Multicultural Attitude Survey), multicultural ideology (Multicultural Ideology Scale), national pride (single item from large scale studies) and intergroup contact (experiences in multicultural classrooms and intergroup friendship). Results showed that higher multicultural ideology and lower national pride were related to more positive multicultural attitudes. We found no such relation for intergroup contact. Based on these new insights into prospective teachers’ multicultural attitudes, we argue that initial teacher education programs should reinforce and develop prospective teachers’ multicultural ideology and consider the role of national pride.

Does negative contact undermine attempts to improve intergroup relations? Deepening the understanding of negative contact and its consequences for intergroup contact research and interventions

AbstractIntergroup contact is an established pathway to improve intergroup relations. Research has long focused on mainly positive intergroup contact and its capability to improve intergroup relations. Yet, if members of different groups meet, they will not only make positive, but possibly also negative intergroup contact experiences. Recent research considering both positive as well as negative intergroup contact has raised concerns about potentially stronger effects of negative compared to positive contact. These new insights and the increasing awareness of potentially detrimental effects of contact could lead to doubts about whether it is always sensible to bring individuals from different groups together. Our article first updates the latest review on joint effects of positive and negative intergroup contact. We find that there is no clear tendency for either positive or negative intergroup contact to yield stronger effects on intergroup relations, and we portray factors that might influence these effects. Such factors—for example an individual's prior experiences—could play a crucial role in defining the relevance of negative contact in everyday settings. We continue by answering calls to increase a more qualitative understanding of what kinds of experiences are seen to be intergroup contact, and where intergroup contact in everyday life is experienced from a lay understanding, with new qualitative data from British White and British Asian individuals. Our results demonstrate that positive as well as negative contact is often rather casual and happens in public spaces and at work. Interventions explicitly addressing these spaces may help to reach more people. We also demonstrate that positive contact is much more frequent than negative contact. This finding is confirmed in the third section, which reviews the relative frequency of positive and negative intergroup contact. Last but not least, we discuss the implications of our review for practitioners and researchers alike.

Negative contact, collective action, and social change: Critical reflections, technological advances, and new directions

AbstractIntergroup contact research has expanded exponentially in the last few decades, with researchers employing a widening range of methods to offer new insights into the effects of both positive and negative contact experiences. In this commentary, we discuss the contributions of three papers to this special issue of the Journal of Social Issues on advances in intergroup contact research, namely Schäfer et al.’s (2021) review of research on negative intergroup contact experiences, Hässler et al.’s (2020) review of research on intergroup contact and social change, and O'Donnell et al.’s (2021) review of technological and analytic advances in contact research. Having outlined the key arguments of each paper, we then offer some theoretical and methodological reflections, also discussing potential gaps, connections, opportunities, and future directions along the way. We end by reflecting on a common theme that permeates our commentary: the need to contextualize adequately the dynamics of intergroup contact across a range of everyday settings. Here we argue that to fully understand how to promote beneficial forms of intergroup contact, we need to consider more carefully how contact is experienced, enacted, and evaluated “on the ground” by participants themselves. This requires work of both theoretical and methodological innovation.

The dynamic relationship between contact opportunities, positive and negative intergroup contact, and prejudice: A longitudinal investigation.

We investigated the dynamics of naturally increasing contact opportunities, frequencies of positive and negative intergroup contact experiences, and prejudice toward forced migrants, in 2 three-wave longitudinal studies (Study 1, N = 183, adult community sample; Study 2, N = 758, nation-wide adult probability sample) in Germany using latent growth curve and parallel process analyses. We examined (research question 1) whether prejudice increases or decreases with increased contact opportunities; (research question 2) whether the rate of change in prejudice is related to the rate of change of positive/negative contact; (research question 3) whether the trajectories of change in prejudice shift as a function of the histories of prior positive/negative contact; and (research question 4) whether the rate of change in positive/negative contact frequencies depends on prior prejudice levels. Across both studies, prejudice increased with increased contact opportunities, as did positive and negative contact frequencies (ad research question 1). Whereas changes in negative contact were significantly related to changes in prejudice in both studies, no such relationships emerged as significant for positive contact (ad research question 2). We did not find any supportive evidence for our research questions 3 and 4. Overall, our results demonstrate that increased contact opportunities can contribute to increases in prejudice. Moreover, they indicate that the trajectories of negative contact and prejudice may be more substantially intertwined than the trajectories of positive contact and prejudice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Re-examining public opinion preferences for migrant categorizations: “Refugees” are evaluated more negatively than “migrants” and “foreigners” related to participants’ direct, extended, and mass-mediated intergroup contact experiences

Although migrant categorizations (e.g. “migrants”, “refugees”) are often conflated in political and academic discourse, they may be ascribed to different people and inspire different preferences in public opinion. Previous research in Western Europe has identified more positive attitudes toward “refugees” than toward “migrants” due to the legitimate need for international protection of “real refugees” compared to the perceived illegitimate claims by “economic migrants”. However, little evidence suggests that the same preference also exists in Eastern European countries that have historically received smaller numbers of refugees and had fewer frequent experiences with migrants and foreigners compared to West European countries. Moreover, the term “refugee” was intensively recategorized as “bogus” and de-legitimized in East European political discourse. To provide new evidence, we conducted a pre-registered comparative survey-based study with a sample of young Slovak adults (N = 873) to compare evaluations of three commonly used migrant categorizations in Slovakia -- “refugees”, “migrants”, and “foreigners” -- on multiple attitudinal and behavioural measures. In addition, we also tested the intergroup contact hypothesis about the relationship between participants’ evaluations and their experiences of direct, extended, and mass-mediated contact with these target groups. We found that “refugees” invoked less favourable feelings, attitudes, trust, and greater social distance compared to “migrants” and “foreigners”. These evaluations related to the valence (and less to the quantity) of participants’ experience of intergroup contact. These results challenge previous findings about public opinion preferences for “refugees” over “migrants”, support the intergroup contact hypothesis, and make a case for a more contextualized research.

Young Muslim Australians’ experiences of intergroup contact and its implications for intercultural relations

ABSTRACT Literature on intergroup contact shows that in the absence of the required structural conditions, contact is not necessarily always a positive experience and that when it is negative, it can lead to heightened conflict and increased prejudice toward outgroups. Therefore, this article examines intergroup contact between Muslims and non-Muslims. Specifically, we examine the experiences of intergroup contact involving young Muslims in Australia and ask how these encounters impact their experiences of discrimination and perceptions of Australian society. We conducted face-to-face, semi-structured interviews to collect rich, qualitative data from young Muslim Australian participants who live in Melbourne, a major cosmopolitan hub, where intergroup contact experiences are likely to be diverse and occur daily. Our findings show that even when met with prejudice and discrimination, young Muslim Australians were able to critically engage with and change the views of non-Muslim Australians through dialogue and creative exchanges about circulating public discourse.

Introduction

Introduction

Contact Logger: Measuring everyday intergroup contact experiences in near-time

Intergroup contact research has traditionally relied on retrospective accounts of intergroup encounters, mainly through survey-based or observational methods. This study introduces and tests the usability of a purpose-built, location-aware mobile application—the Contact Logger. This application enables the recording of interpersonal and intergroup encounters, in public and private spaces (both indoor and outdoor), in their here-and-now contexts. The main advantage of this approach, as compared to traditional methods, lies in its ability to collect repeated and timely (near-time) self-assessments of individuals’ behaviors and experiences. It also allows for geographical location data to be logged. Usability testing was conducted in a real-world environment and took place over the course of seven days, during which participants (N = 12) logged every contact they had with an outgroup member (here, older people). Subsequently, participants completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, reporting on the usability and experience of using the Contact Logger. The results showed that the application is a viable and easy-to-use alternative to traditional methods. The information gathered aided the further development and optimization of the application. The outcomes of this development process are also briefly discussed.

Positive intergroup contact decreases the likelihood that prejudicial attitudes become avoidant behavioral tendencies

AbstractWe investigated whether existing intergroup contact experiences moderated the associations between prejudicial attitudes and behavioral tendencies towards outgroups across five studies in Turkey (total N = 1,281). Findings showed that among Turks who reported higher levels of cross‐group friendship quantity (Study 1) and greater positive (but not negative) contact (Study 2) with Kurds, prejudicial attitudes did not predict negative outgroup behavioral tendencies. Confirming these studies, Study 3 indicated that the association between homophobic attitudes and outgroup avoidance/approach tendencies was weaker among individuals who reported more LGBTI friends. Study 4 replicated the latter finding among children using Syrians as the target outgroup. Study 5 further showed that the buffering role of intergroup contact occurred only among participants who held less certain attitudes towards Syrian refugees. Findings provide insights into how existing contact experiences shape the relationship between negative attitudes towards outgroups and relevant behavioral intentions.