Crossing the divide: promoting confidence in contact in a diverse world

We are living in an increasingly diverse world, an exciting prospect given that positive interactions between people from different social groups have numerous benefits. Unfortunately, however, people often fail to engage in such interactions. Moreover, there is evidence that prejudice, both at an individual and a societal level, remains prevalent. To navigate the diverse world in which we live and, in turn, promote positive intergroup relations, it is important to develop skills and beliefs that will enable us to engage confidently in cross-group relationships. This article will highlight research which demonstrates some of the many benefits of engaging in intergroup contact, from more positive intergroup relations to broader changes in the way we think. The importance of promoting confidence at engaging in contact and its potential predictors and outcomes will be considered. Finally, interventions—specifically extended contact, imagined contact and online contact or e-contact—will be outlined that can help to make people more confident, and in turn more likely to engage in successful interactions with people from different backgrounds to themselves.

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Studying Positive and Negative Direct and Extended Contact: Complementing Self-Reports With Social Network Analysis

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin ◽

10.1177/0146167217719732 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 43 (11) ◽

pp. 1566-1581 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Ralf Wölfer ◽

Eva Jaspers ◽

Danielle Blaylock ◽

Clarissa Wigoder ◽

Joanne Hughes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Social Network ◽

Social Network Analysis ◽

Network Analysis ◽

Intergroup Relations ◽

Large Scale ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Network Analyses ◽

Self Reports ◽

Extended Contact ◽

Contact Parameters

Traditionally, studies of intergroup contact have primarily relied on self-reports, which constitute a valid method for studying intergroup contact, but has limitations, especially if researchers are interested in negative or extended contact. In three studies, we apply social network analyses to generate alternative contact parameters. Studies 1 and 2 examine self-reported and network-based parameters of positive and negative contact using cross-sectional datasets ( N = 291, N = 258), indicating that both methods help explain intergroup relations. Study 3 examines positive and negative direct and extended contact using the previously validated network-based contact parameters in a large-scale, international, and longitudinal dataset ( N = 12,988), demonstrating that positive and negative direct and extended contact all uniquely predict intergroup relations (i.e., intergroup attitudes and future outgroup contact). Findings highlight the value of social network analysis for examining the full complexity of contact including positive and negative forms of direct and extended contact.

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Improving Intergroup Relations with Extended Contact among Young Children: Mediation by Intergroup Empathy and Moderation by Direct Intergroup Contact

Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology ◽

10.1002/casp.2292 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 35-49 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Loris Vezzali ◽

Miles Hewstone ◽

Dora Capozza ◽

Elena Trifiletti ◽

Gian Antonio Di Bernardo

Keyword(s):

Young Children ◽

Intergroup Relations ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Extended Contact

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Attributional processes underlying imagined contact effects

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations ◽

10.1177/1368430210390721 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 275-287 ◽

Cited By ~ 29

Author(s):

Richard J. Crisp ◽

Shenel Husnu

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Relations ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Intergroup Attitudes ◽

Person Perspective ◽

Third Person ◽

Intergroup Encounters ◽

Imagined Contact ◽

Third Person Perspective ◽

Study Participants ◽

Attributional Processes

Recent research has demonstrated that mentally simulating positive intergroup encounters can promote tolerance and more positive intergroup attitudes. We explored the attributional processes underlying these effects. In our study participants who imagined intergroup contact subsequently reported greater intentions to engage in future contact, a relationship that was mediated by participants’ attribution, to themselves, of a more positive attitudinal orientation towards outgroup contact. Consistent with this attributional account, the perspective taken when imagining the encounter qualified this effect. Participants who imagined the encounter from a third-person perspective reported heightened intentions to engage in future contact relative to control participants, while this was not the case when the encounter was imagined from a first-person perspective. These findings suggest that attributional processes are key to observing the benefits that accrue from imagining intergroup contact. We speculate that these attributions may distinguish the approach from extended and actual forms of contact and help researchers to further capitalize on the benefits of mental imagery for improving intergroup relations.

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The Many Colors Children See: Development and Intervention of Children’s Social Prejudices

Buletin Psikologi ◽

10.22146/buletinpsikologi.26841 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yopina G Pertiwi

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Contact ◽

Empirical Studies ◽

Minority Group ◽

Social Groups ◽

Social Categorization ◽

Social Categories ◽

Political Situation ◽

Implicit Information ◽

Promising Solution ◽

The Many

In light of the current socio-political situation that magnifies the majority-minority group division in the country, it is essential for parents and other elements of the society to discuss about how this situation may affect the development of the next generation. Both explicit and implicit information on social categorization provided by adults and other resources assist in the formation of children’s stereotype and prejudice towards various social groups. This paper reviews empirical studies on the development of prejudice across childhood and the strategy that can potentially facilitates the reduction of prejudice among children. It is evident that children have begun to use social categories to describe different social groups from a very young age and promoting intergroup contact may be used as a promising solution to lower prejudice among children.

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Rethinking intergroup contact across cultures: Predicting outgroup evaluations using different types of contact, group status, and perceived sociopolitical contexts

Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology ◽

10.1017/prp.2020.9 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yopina G. Pertiwi ◽

Andrew L. Geers ◽

Yueh-Ting Lee

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Intergroup Relations ◽

Direct Contact ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

The United States ◽

Government Support ◽

Group Status ◽

Cultural Contexts ◽

Extended Contact ◽

Different Types

Abstract Two studies were conducted to examine the relationship between three different types of intergroup contact (i.e., direct contact, extended contact, and online contact) and outgroup evaluation, and the moderating effect of group status and sociopolitical contexts across two cultural contexts. A total of 75 European Americans (majority) and 44 Chinese Americans (minority) participated in Study 1; whereas 61 Javanese (majority) and 72 Chinese Indonesians (minority) participated in Study 2. In both studies, participants completed an outgroup feeling thermometer as well as a set of questionnaires measuring intergroup contact, perceived outgroup political power, perceived outgroup economic power, perceived government support, and perceived quality of the current intergroup relations. Results from the two studies revealed that although contact was beneficial in both cultural contexts, there were notable moderators of the links between contact and outgroup evaluations. Specifically, the value of direct contact was greater for the minority group members in the United States, extended contact only mattered in a specific condition when the perceived government support was taken into account in the United States, and online contact was beneficial across group status in the Indonesian context. Overall, the findings provide evidence of the need to take into account the role of specific sociopolitical relations between the two groups in intergroup relations research.

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Improving intergroup relations through direct, extended and other forms of indirect contact

Group Processes & Intergroup Relations ◽

10.1177/1368430210390555 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 147-160 ◽

Cited By ~ 121

Author(s):

John F. Dovidio ◽

Anja Eller ◽

Miles Hewstone

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Relations ◽

Direct Contact ◽

Personal Contact ◽

Future Research ◽

Intergroup Attitudes ◽

Special Issue ◽

Indirect Contact ◽

Psychological Mechanisms ◽

Extended Contact ◽

Imagined Contact

The benefits of direct, personal contact with members of another group are well established empirically. This Special Issue complements that body of work by demonstrating the effects of various forms of indirect contact on intergroup attitudes and relations. Indirect contact includes (a) extended contact: learning that an ingroup member is friends with an outgroup member, (b) vicarious contact: observing an ingroup member interact with an outgroup member, and (c) imagined contact: imagining oneself interacting with an outgroup member. The effects of indirect contact not only occur independently of direct contact, they often involve distinct psychological mechanisms. The present article briefly reviews work on direct intergroup contact and then discusses recent theoretical and empirical developments in the study of extended contact, vicarious contact, and imagined contact. We consider the similarities and distinctions in the dynamics of these forms of indirect contact and conclude by identifying promising directions for future research.

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Reducing Prejudice Through Narratives

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000249 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 185-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Emily Moyer-Gusé ◽

Katherine R. Dale ◽

Michelle Ortiz

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Relations ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Contact Hypothesis ◽

Muslim Americans ◽

Intergroup Anxiety ◽

Intergroup Interactions

Abstract. Recent extensions to the contact hypothesis reveal that different forms of contact, such as mediated intergroup contact, can reduce intergroup anxiety and improve attitudes toward the outgroup. This study draws on existing research to further consider the role of identification with an ingroup character within a narrative depicting intergroup contact between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. Results reveal that identification with the non-Muslim (ingroup) model facilitated liking the Muslim (outgroup) model, which reduced prejudice toward Muslims more generally. Identification with the ingroup model also increased conversational self-efficacy and reduced anxiety about future intergroup interactions – both important aspects of improving intergroup relations.

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Supplemental Material for Impact of Pre-War and Post-War Intergroup Contact on Intergroup Relations and Mental Health: Evidence From a Bosnian Sample

Peace and Conflict Journal of Peace Psychology ◽

10.1037/pac0000222.supp ◽

2017 ◽

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Intergroup Relations ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Post War

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Pescadores migrantes: análisis de su dinámica e integración Social

Studies of Applied Economics ◽

10.25115/eea.v37i3.2770 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 37 (3) ◽

pp. 18

Author(s):

Fernando González Laxe

Keyword(s):

Renewable Resources ◽

Sustainable Management ◽

Social Groups ◽

Technological Innovations ◽

Social Competition ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Fish Stocks ◽

Fishery Resources ◽

Migration Dynamics ◽

The Many

The globalization of the economy encourages massive population displacements and inevitably generates a cosmopolitization of societies. This leads to concern, misunderstanding and rejection. The most vulnerable social groups in society can perceive the population as intruders and enemies in social competition. Undoubtedly, the extreme spatial instability of fishery resources is among the many factors affecting migration dynamics. Various reasons for the mobility of fishermen are relevant around this concept. These include aspect related to traditions, to the capitalisation of activity, to technological innovations, and to innovation exchanges concerning the location of fish stocks. This article reflects on spatial increase of fishermen’s. The analyse are part of the paradigm of the sustainable management of common renewable resources, in particular fishery resources. It presents three lines of analysis: the reason for mobility; the choice of destination; and are the integration into host units.

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