Reduced Intergroup Anxiety Research Articles

Social Distance toward Syrian Refugees: The Role of Intergroup Anxiety in Facilitating Positive Relations

AbstractThe number of asylum seekers and refugees across the world is rapidly increasing. Negative attitudes toward these groups are globally prevalent and typically hostile because most receiving country citizens perceive them to be a security threat and an economic burden. This paper aims to understand the antecedents of negative attitudes toward a large refugee group currently garnering a great deal of attention—Syrian refugees, and experimentally test ways to ameliorate negative attitudes. In Study 1 (N = 122), we investigated predictors of social distance—as a proxy for prejudice—and found right‐wing authoritarianism and intergroup anxiety to be significant predictors. In Study 2 (N = 162), we tested whether perceived acculturation orientation would predict social distance and found that Americans were less prejudiced toward Syrians who preferred to assimilate rather than integrate. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 153), we tested if a form of vicarious contact could reduce social distance via reduced intergroup anxiety; we found initial evidence for this mediation link. We discussed the potential for the vicarious contact intervention to foster positive intergroup relations and contribute to refugee wellbeing.

Neighborhood Identity Helps Residents Cope with Residential Diversification: Contact in Increasingly Mixed Neighborhoods of Northern Ireland

Research on residential diversification has mainly focused on its negative impacts upon community cohesion and positive effects on intergroup relations. However, these analyses ignore how neighborhood identity can shape the consequences of diversification among residents. Elsewhere, research using the Applied Social Identity Approach (ASIA) has demonstrated the potential for neighborhood identity to provide social and psychological resources to cope with challenges. The current article proposes a novel model whereby these “Social Cure” processes can enable residents to cope with the specific challenges of diversification. We present two studies in support of this model, each from the increasingly religiously desegregated society of postconflict Northern Ireland. Analysis of the 2012 “Northern Ireland Life and Times” survey shows that across Northern Ireland, neighborhood identity impacts positively upon both well‐being and intergroup attitudes via a reduction in intergroup anxiety. A second custom‐designed survey of residents in a newly mixed area of Belfast shows that neighborhood identification predicts increased well‐being, reduced intergroup anxiety, and reduced prejudice independently of group norms and experiences of contact. For political psychologists, our evidence suggests a reformulation of the fundamental question of “what effects do residential mixing have on neighborhoods?” to “how can neighborhood communities support residents to collectively cope with contact?”

Improving intergroup relations between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland via E‐contact

AbstractNorthern Ireland is characterised by extensive segregation between its predominantly Catholic and Protestant communities. With the aim of overcoming this segregation, the current study experimentally evaluated the effectiveness of electronic or E‐contact as a novel indirect contact and prejudice‐reduction strategy. Here, Catholic and Protestant participants were not required to meet physically but were involved in a collaborative and goal‐orientated online interaction with a member of the other community. As predicted, E‐contact improved both Catholics’ and Protestants’ outgroup attitudes via improved contact expectancies and reduced intergroup anxiety. These findings provide support for the contemporary role of online interactions in actively overcoming the physical and psychological barriers that often prevent prejudice reduction in segregated communities.

Attitudes Towards Seeking Psychological Help: An Integrative Model Based on Contact, Essentialist Beliefs About Mental Illness, and Stigma.

Based on intergroup contact theory, a proposed comprehensive model of attitudes towards seeking professional psychological help was tested, including both potential barriers to mental health help-seeking (i.e., public stigma and self-stigma of seeking help, prejudicial and essentialist beliefs about mental illness, intergroup anxiety) and potential facilitators (i.e., direct and extended contact with persons with mental illness). Relevant measures were completed by 119 community-dwelling participants. Path analysis showed that direct (but not extended) contact with mental illness, by reducing intergroup anxiety, led to less negative beliefs about mental illness and weaker essentialist beliefs about mental illness (the latter being directly and positively associated with negative beliefs about mental illness). Moreover, less negative beliefs about mental illness, by reducing perceptions of self (but not public) stigma of seeking psychological help, were related to more positive attitudes towards help-seeking. Results are discussed in the context of the (unintentional) adverse effects of biogenetic (essentialist) explanations of mental disorders, and the clinical implications regarding interventions that aim at improving help-seeking attitudes.

Intergroup anxiety and political loss: The buffering effects of believing in the open marketplace of ideas and openness to diverse political discussions

AbstractThe polarized divide in current U.S. politics continues to separate citizens and impede political decision‐making. Ameliorating this polarization may require addressing intergroup anxiety. The current work examines the buffering effect of endorsing the open marketplace of ideas and openness to engaging in political conversations with people who hold opposing political views on partisans' intergroup anxiety. In Study 1 (N = 319), openness to diverse political discussions negatively predicted postelection intergroup anxiety among Obama supporters in the 2012 U.S. election. Among Romney supporters, endorsement of the open marketplace and openness to diverse political discussions negatively predicted intergroup anxiety. Study 2 (N = 349 Democrats and Republicans), employed an experimental design and produced results consistent with Study 1. For Democrats and Republicans, openness to participating in political discussions characterized by multiple political perspectives was associated with reduced intergroup anxiety. Regardless of the threat of their candidate losing the 2016 election, Republicans (compared to Democrats) expressed reduced intergroup anxiety when endorsing the open marketplace of ideas and being open to engaging in diverse political discussions. Results are discussed in terms of contact theory within the context of the American political system.

An Investigation of Positive and Negative Contact As Predictors of Intergroup Attitudes in the United States, Hong Kong, and Thailand

Contact researchers have overlooked (a) the mechanisms that explain the association between negative contact and prejudice, (b) the effects of positive and negative contact on outcomes beyond prejudice, and (c) the importance of testing contact effects cross-culturally. In the present article, we addressed these gaps in the literature by drawing on data from White Americans ( N = 207; Study 1), Hong Kong Chinese ( N = 145; Study 2), and Buddhist Thais ( N = 161; Study 3). Specifically, we examined positive and negative contact as predictors of old-fashioned and modern prejudice toward, and negative metaperceptions about, Black Americans, Mainland Chinese, and Muslim Thais, respectively. We also tested intergroup anxiety as a mediator of the associations between positive and negative contact, and all intergroup outcomes. Across three studies, positive contact predicted reduced intergroup anxiety, prejudice, and negative metaperceptions, while negative contact predicted increased intergroup anxiety, prejudice, and negative metaperceptions. Negative contact, however, was the more consistent predictor of intergroup attitudes. Intergroup anxiety emerged as a robust mediator of the relationships between both types of contact and all intergroup outcomes. We thus present the first test of a model of positive and negative contact that holds across both Western and non-Western contexts.

Evidence That a Brief Meditation Exercise Can Reduce Prejudice Toward Homeless People

Recent research has shown that integrating social and clinical psychological perspectives can be effective when designing prejudice-interventions, with psychotherapeutic techniques successful at tackling anxiety in intergroup contexts. This research tests whether a single, brief loving-kindness meditation intervention, without containing any reference to the intergroup context, could reduce prejudice. This exercise was selected for its proven positive effects on mental and physical health. We observed that participants who took part in two variations of this meditation exercise (one involving a stranger, the other a homeless person) reported reduced intergroup anxiety, as well as more positive explicit attitudes, and enhanced future contact intentions. We conclude that combining approaches in intergroup relations and psychotherapy could be beneficial to design new interventions to combat prejudice and discrimination.

Effects of heterosexuals' direct and extended friendships with sexual minorities on their attitudes and behaviors: intergroup anxiety and attitude strength as mediators and moderators

AbstractWe tested processes by which heterosexuals' direct and extended friendships with lesbian and gay individuals predicted homophobic and affirming behaviors toward lesbian and gay individuals. Results demonstrated that friendships predicted less homophobic behaviors and more affirming behaviors, mediated through reduced intergroup anxiety and sexual prejudice. Further, the strength with which individuals held their prejudiced attitudes moderated the extent to which these attitudes predicted affirming behaviors. Less prejudiced attitudes only predicted affirming behaviors when these attitudes were strongly held; in contrast, prejudiced attitudes predicted homophobic behavior regardless of how strongly these attitudes were held.

Imagined intergroup contact facilitates intercultural communication for college students on academic exchange programs

Imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & Turner, 2009) is a new cognitive intervention designed to improve intergroup relations. In two studies, we examined whether it could also facilitate intercultural communication among international students and host country natives engaged in a college exchange program. In Study 1, international students who had recently arrived in Italy and participated in an imagined contact session displayed increased self-disclosure toward, and improved evaluation of, host country natives. In Study 2, Italian students mentally simulated positive contact with an unknown native from the host country prior to leaving for the exchange. Results from an online questionnaire administered on their return (on average, more than 7 months after the imagery task) revealed that participants who imagined contact reported spending more time with natives during the stay and enhanced outgroup evaluation, via reduced intergroup anxiety. Implications for enhancing the quality and effectiveness of college student exchange programs are discussed.

The Role of Personality Factors in the Reduction of Intergroup Anxiety and Amelioration of Outgroup Attitudes via Intergroup Contact

Two studies investigated the role of personality factors in the amelioration of outgroup attitudes via intergroup contact. In study 1, the effect of extraversion on outgroup attitude operated via an increase in cross–group friendship, whereas openness to experience and agreeableness had a direct effect on outgroup attitude. In study 2, we included intergroup anxiety as a mediator explaining these relationships, and we ruled out ingroup friendship as a potential confound. We found that the relationships between openness to experience and agreeableness on the one hand and outgroup attitude on the other were mediated by reduced intergroup anxiety. In addition, the effect of extraversion on outgroup attitude operated via an increase in cross–group friendship that was in turn associated with lower levels of intergroup anxiety. Across both studies, the friendship–attitude relationship was stronger among those low in agreeableness and extraversion. We discuss the importance of integrating personality and situational approaches to prejudice reduction in optimizing the impact of contact–based interventions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Dropping the weight stigma: Nostalgia improves attitudes toward persons who are overweight

Weight stigma, a negative attitude toward persons who are overweight, can lead to emotional detriment (increased vulnerability to depression and anxiety, decreased self-esteem) and discriminatory practices (denial of employment, lower wages, refusal of job promotion or college admission, healthcare deprivation), which have increased dramatically in the United States over the past decade. We report two experiments that implicate nostalgia as a resource or strategy for weight stigma reduction. We hypothesized and found that nostalgia about an encounter with a person who is overweight improves attitudes toward the group “overweight.” Undergraduates who recalled a nostalgic (vs. ordinary) interaction with an overweight person subsequently showed more positive outgroup attitudes. The effect of nostalgia on outgroup attitudes was mediated by greater inclusion of the outgroup in the self and increased outgroup trust (Experiments 1 and 2), as well as reduced intergroup anxiety and greater perceptions of a common ingroup identity (Experiment 2). The findings have interventional potential.

What will the others think? In‐group norms as a mediator of the effects of intergroup contact

The influence of social norms in the context of intergroup relations has long been recognized by social psychologists, yet research on intergroup contact and social norms have usually remained disconnected. We explored the influence of direct and indirect friendship on attitudes towards ethnic minorities in Norway, and in particular the role of in-group norms about the social approval of intergroup contact as a mechanism that distinguishes direct from indirect contact. Using a sample of school students from 89 classrooms (N=823), we tested this hypothesis with both one level and multi-level structural equation modelling (ML-SEM), where the amount of contact of other classroom members was considered as a form of indirect contact. The results suggest that the intergroup contact of other in-group members (in-group friends or classmates) affects attitudes towards the out-group by changing the perception of in-group norms and by reducing intergroup anxiety. In contrast, direct contact (or contact at the individual level in the case of ML-SEM), improved attitudes only by reducing intergroup anxiety, and did not affect the perception of in-group norms.

Elaboration enhances the imagined contact effect

Recent studies have shown that imagining intergroup contact can improve attitudes held toward a range of social groups. We extended research on imagined contact by testing an elaborated task variant designed specifically to enhance future contact intentions. In three experiments imagined contact heightened intentions, elaborated imagery enhanced this effect, and these enhancements were attributable to both reduced intergroup anxiety and an increase in the reported vividness of the imagined scenario. Furthermore, prior contact enhanced the vividness with which imagined scenarios were envisaged, with concurrent benefits for future contact intentions. Results also supported the notion that elaboration creates a more accessible contact script upon which to base future judgments of intention. We discuss the implications of these findings for a developing model of imagined contact effects.

From imagery to intention: A dual route model of imagined contact effects

Imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & R. Turner, 2009) is a new indirect contact strategy for promoting tolerance and more positive intergroup relations. In this chapter, we review existing research on imagined contact and propose two routes—cognitive and affective—through which it can exert a positive influence on contact-related attitudes and intentions. We first review research that has established the beneficial impacts of imagined contact on intergroup attitudes via reduced intergroup anxiety, supporting its efficacy as an intervention where there exists little or no opportunity for direct contact. We then review more recent research showing that imagined contact not only improves attitudes, but can also enhance intentions to engage in future contact. These studies suggest that contact imagery provides a behavioural script that forms the cognitive basis for subsequent judgements about future contact intentions. Collectively, the findings from this research programme support the idea that imagined contact can complement more direct forms of contact—providing a way of initially encouraging an interest in engaging positively with outgroups before introducing face-to-face encounters. We discuss the implications of these findings for future theory and research, and how they can inform prejudice-reduction interventions seeking to capitalise on the beneficial effects of mental imagery.

Differential relations between two types of contact and implicit and explicit racial attitudes

Contact with out-group members has been associated with more favourable explicit attitudes towards the out-group in general, largely via the mediation of reduced intergroup anxiety. In addition, there is now a growing body of evidence suggesting that contact relates to automatically activated evaluations termed implicit attitudes. However, research has not fully illuminated the mechanisms through which contact with outgroup members impacts on implicit attitudes. A study investigating this issue assessed White participants' (N=105) explicit attitudes, implicit attitudes, intergroup anxiety, and contact quantity and quality about Asians. Greater contact quality was related to more positive explicit attitudes, while contact quantity was associated with more positive implicit attitudes. Both effects were mediated by reduced intergroup anxiety.

A test of the extended intergroup contact hypothesis: The mediating role of intergroup anxiety, perceived ingroup and outgroup norms, and inclusion of the outgroup in the self.

S. C. Wright, A. Aron, T. McLaughlin-Volpe, and S. A. Ropp (1997) proposed that the benefits associated with cross-group friendship might also stem from vicarious experiences of friendship. Extended contact was proposed to reduce prejudice by reducing intergroup anxiety, by generating perceptions of positive ingroup and outgroup norms regarding the other group, and through inclusion of the outgroup in the self. This article documents the first test of Wright et al.'s model, which used structural equation modeling among two independent samples in the context of South Asian-White relations in the United Kingdom. Supporting the model, all four variables mediated the relationship between extended contact and outgroup attitude, controlling for the effect of direct contact. A number of alternative models were ruled out, indicating that the four mediators operate concurrently rather than predicting one another.

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.