White Female Bystanders’ Responses to a Black Woman at Risk for Sexual Assault:

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 739-754 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E. Merrilees ◽  
Jennifer Katz ◽  
Natalie DuBois ◽  
Claire Grant
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
White Women ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
White Female ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
Group Members ◽  
White Campuses

Although much research suggests that intergroup contact reduces prejudice, less research has examined the effects of contact on prosocial intergroup bystander behaviors. The current study examined mediators between White undergraduate women’s (N = 139) contact with racial/ethnic minority group members and their intent to help a Black woman at risk for sexual assault. As expected, White women who had more frequent and higher quality contact reported greater intent to intervene. Results showed that the effect of quality intergroup contact was mediated by diversity beliefs, or the attitude that cultural heterogeneity leads to favorable outcomes. These results suggest that promoting high-quality opportunities for intergroup contact and education regarding cultural diversity could promote the safety of racially and ethnically diverse students on predominantly White campuses.

White Female Bystanders’ Responses to a Black Woman at Risk for Incapacitated Sexual Assault

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Katz ◽  
Christine Merrilees ◽  
Jill C. Hoxmeier ◽  
Marisa Motisi
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
White Women ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Female College Students ◽  
Victim Blame ◽  
White Female ◽  
Potential Victim ◽  
Path Analyses

We investigated White female college students’ responses to risk for an incapacitated sexual assault involving a Black potential victim. Participants ( N = 160) read about attending a party where they saw a man lead an intoxicated woman into a private bedroom. The potential victim was referred to as having either a distinctively Black name (e.g., LaToya) or a non-distinct control name (e.g., Laura). After random assignment to one of these two conditions, participants reported on their intent to intervene and their perceptions of the situation and the potential victim. As expected, participants assigned to the Black potential victim condition reported less intent to intervene, less personal responsibility to intervene, and greater perceived victim pleasure than participants assigned to the control condition. Neither the certainty of risk nor the perceived victim blame differed as a function of the potential victim’s race. In path analyses, personal responsibility to intervene mediated the relationship between victim race and intent to intervene. The current results suggest that White women in college may choose not to help Black women at risk for sexual assault. Bystander education programs should explicitly address race as a potential barrier to helping others in need.

scholarly journals Diversity in health care institutions reduces Israeli patients’ prejudice toward Arabs

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (14) ◽  
pp. e2022634118
Author(s):  
Chagai M. Weiss
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Prejudice Reduction ◽  
Majority Group ◽  
Group Members ◽  
The Impact ◽  
To Receive

Diversity in the lines of public institutions, such as hospitals, schools, and police forces, is thought to improve provision for minority group members. Nonetheless, whether and how diversity in public institutions shapes majority citizens’ prejudice toward minorities are unclear. Building on insights from the intergroup contact literature, I suggest that diversity in public institutions can facilitate positive intergroup contact between majority group members and minorities in elevated social positions. Such unique interactions, which exceed the equal status condition for effective intergroup contact, can serve to reduce prejudice and facilitate more inclusive attitudes among majority group members. To test this expectation, I focus on health care provision—a leading sector with regard to minority representation. Leveraging a natural experiment unfolding in 21 Israeli medical clinics where Jewish patients are haphazardly assigned to receive care from Jewish or Arab doctors and embedding prejudice-related questions in a routine evaluation survey, I demonstrate that brief contact with an Arab doctor reduces prejudice. Specifically, contact with an Arab doctor reduces Jewish patients’ exclusionary preferences toward Arabs by one-sixth of an SD and increases Jewish patients’ optimism about peace by a 10th of an SD. The modest magnitude of these effects is similar to the impact of well-powered interventions recently reviewed in a meta-analysis of prejudice reduction experiments. These findings emphasize how the demographic makeup of public institutions can reduce mass prejudice, even in a context of intractable conflict.

scholarly journals The role of optimal conditions and intergroup contact in promoting positive intergroup relations in and out of the workplace: A study with ethnic majority and minority workers

2021 ◽  
pp. 136843022110109
Author(s):  
Gian Antonio Di Bernardo ◽  
Loris Vezzali ◽  
Michèle D. Birtel ◽  
Sofia Stathi ◽  
Barbara Ferrari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
Contact Conditions ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Positive Contact

A field study was conducted with majority and minority group members to test whether the effects of optimal contact conditions and of intergroup contact generalize across situations, and extend to the support of intergroup equality in terms of agreement with social policies benefitting the minority group. Participants were 163 Italian and 129 immigrant workers in three corporate organizations. Results from structural equation modelling analyses revealed that, for the majority group, positive contact stemming from optimal contact conditions was indirectly associated, via reduction in negative stereotypes, with more positive behavior that generalized across situations. For both majority and minority groups, positive contact stemming from optimal contact conditions was associated with less negative stereotypes, and in turn with greater support for social policies favoring the minority. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, also in relation to the significance of the present results for research investigating the relation between intergroup contact and social change.

scholarly journals Mixed Evidence for Interactive Effects of Outgroup Proportions and Intergroup Contact on Racial Bias in the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 194855062110277
Author(s):  
James R. Rae ◽  
Allison L. Skinner-Dorkenoo ◽  
Anna-Kaisa Reiman ◽  
Katharina Schmid ◽  
Miles Hewstone
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
The United States ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Ingroup Bias ◽  
Total N ◽  
Black Residents ◽  
Group Members

Dominant majority-group members living in areas with larger proportions of outgroup members tend to express more ingroup bias. However, prior research has rarely considered this in tandem with the bias-reducing effects of intergroup contact or tested whether outgroup proportions have similar effects for oppressed minority-group members. In two preregistered studies, we tested whether contact moderates the association between outgroup proportions and ingroup bias among White and Black Americans (total N > 75,000). As hypothesized, more Black residents in an area predicted greater explicit (but not implicit) ingroup bias among White respondents who reported low (but not high) contact with Black people. By contrast, more White residents in an area predicted lower explicit (but not implicit) ingroup bias among Black respondents regardless of intergroup contact with White people. We qualify previous findings by demonstrating that the association between outgroup proportions and ingroup bias depends on one’s group membership and level of intergroup contact.

scholarly journals Mixed Evidence for Interactive Effects of Outgroup Proportions and Intergroup Contact on Racial Bias in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Skinner-Dorkenoo ◽  
James Richard Rae ◽  
Anna Reiman
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Intergroup Contact ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
The United States ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Ingroup Bias ◽  
Total N ◽  
Black Residents ◽  
Group Members

Dominant majority-group members living in areas with larger proportions of outgroup members tend to express more ingroup bias. However, prior research has rarely considered this in tandem with the bias-reducing effects of intergroup contact or tested whether outgroup proportions have similar effects for oppressed minority-group members. In two preregistered studies, we tested whether contact moderates the association between outgroup proportions and ingroup bias among White and Black Americans (total N>75,000). As hypothesized, more Black residents in an area predicted greater explicit (but not implicit) ingroup bias among White respondents who reported low (but not high) contact with Black people. By contrast, more White residents in an area predicted lower explicit (but not implicit) ingroup bias among Black respondents regardless of intergroup contact with White people. We qualify previous findings by demonstrating that the association between outgroup proportions and ingroup bias depends on one’s group membership and level of intergroup contact.

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