TY - JOUR
T1 - Intergroup contact is reliably associated with reduced prejudice, even in the face of group threat and discrimination
AU - Al Ramiah, Ananthi
AU - Christ, Oliver
AU - Dhont, Kristof
AU - Hewstone, Miles
AU - Kauff, Mathias
AU - Rothmann, Sebastiaan
AU - Saleem, Muniba
AU - Savelkoul, Michael
AU - Schmid, K.
AU - Swart, Hermann
AU - Tausch, Nicole
AU - Van Assche, Jasper
AU - Wölfer, Ralf
AU - Zahreddine, Sarah
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 American Psychological Association
PY - 2023/9
Y1 - 2023/9
N2 - Intergroup contact provides a reliable means of reducing prejudice. Yet, critics suggested that its efficacy is undermined, even eliminated, under certain conditions. Specifically, contact may be ineffective in the face of threat, especially to (historically) advantaged groups, and discrimination, experienced especially by (historically) disadvantaged groups. We considered perceived intergroup threat and perceived discrimination as potential moderators of the effect of contact on prejudice. Two meta-analyses of correlational data from 34 studies (totaling 63,945 respondents-drawn from 67 subsamples across 19 countries) showed that contact was associated with decreased prejudice and increased out-group positivity, in cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, among advantaged and disadvantaged group members, and in both Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) and non-WEIRD contexts. Both perceived threat and perceived discrimination moderated the contact-attitude association, but in an unanticipated direction. Indeed, contact's beneficial effects were at least as strong among individuals high (r = .19) as among individuals low (r = .18) in perceived threat. Similarly, the effects of contact were at least as strong among those high (r = .23) as among those low (r = .20) in perceived discrimination. We conclude that contact is effective for promoting tolerant societies because it is effective even among subpopulations where achieving that goal might be most challenging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
AB - Intergroup contact provides a reliable means of reducing prejudice. Yet, critics suggested that its efficacy is undermined, even eliminated, under certain conditions. Specifically, contact may be ineffective in the face of threat, especially to (historically) advantaged groups, and discrimination, experienced especially by (historically) disadvantaged groups. We considered perceived intergroup threat and perceived discrimination as potential moderators of the effect of contact on prejudice. Two meta-analyses of correlational data from 34 studies (totaling 63,945 respondents-drawn from 67 subsamples across 19 countries) showed that contact was associated with decreased prejudice and increased out-group positivity, in cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, among advantaged and disadvantaged group members, and in both Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) and non-WEIRD contexts. Both perceived threat and perceived discrimination moderated the contact-attitude association, but in an unanticipated direction. Indeed, contact's beneficial effects were at least as strong among individuals high (r = .19) as among individuals low (r = .18) in perceived threat. Similarly, the effects of contact were at least as strong among those high (r = .23) as among those low (r = .20) in perceived discrimination. We conclude that contact is effective for promoting tolerant societies because it is effective even among subpopulations where achieving that goal might be most challenging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
KW - discrimination
KW - intergroup contact
KW - intergroup relations
KW - prejudice
KW - threat
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85150792506&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/amp0001144
DO - 10.1037/amp0001144
M3 - Article
SN - 0003-066X
VL - 78
SP - 761
EP - 774
JO - American Psychologist
JF - American Psychologist
IS - 6
ER -