Generalized effects of intergroup contact: The secondary transfer effect

In this chapter, we will provide an extensive review of the sparse literature on the secondary transfer effect. We start our discussion with a brief exposition of Allport¿s (1954) contact hypothesis, after which we discuss early research on secondary transfer effects and then review more recent research on this topic. Next, we will turn our attention to the two main purported mediating processes, attitude generalization and deprovincialization, after which we will discuss a third, less tested mediator, intergroup empathy. We then review possible moderators of the link between primary outgroup contact and secondary outgroup attitude as well as the link between primary and secondary outgroup attitudes. Lastly, we turn our attention to some limitations of extant research on the secondary transfer effect, and then suggest some issues for future research in this domain.