Extending Contact Across Generations: Comparison of Direct and Ancestral Intergroup Contact Effects on Current Attitudes Toward Outgroup Members

There is a growing body of evidence that intergroup relations are affected not only by direct contact with outgroup members, but also by extended contact: the mere knowledge that an ingroup member has a positive relationship with an outgroup. The present article focuses on the transgenerationally transmitted effects of contact, namely the impact of knowledge about ancestors’ contact with outgroup members on descendants’ attitudes toward the outgroup. A correlational study in the Polish–Ukrainian borderland region (N = 288) shows that ancestral intergroup contact – independently from direct intergroup contact – plays a crucial role in the process of improving intergroup attitudes. The mediating mechanisms of perceived similarity of the outgroup to the self and of perspective taking are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Text-based E-contact: Harnessing cooperative Internet interactions to bridge the social and psychological divide

ABSTRACT

In order to bridge the psychological and physical divide between different groups, researchers have harnessed the positive elements of the Internet to improve intergroup contact. One new and effective Internet strategy is Electronic- or E-contact. Unlike other contact approaches, E-contact is an experimental intergroup intervention that uniquely accommodates Allport’s contact theory and recategorisation processes, to create a structured, cooperative, synchronous and goal-directed online text interaction between members from different groups. E-contact has been found to successfully improve intergroup relations between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland and Muslims and Catholics in Australia; and reduce bias against lesbian women and gay men, people with schizophrenia, Indigenous Australians, and transgender individuals. This paper discusses the unique engineering and advantages of E-contact interventions in comparison to existing contact strategies, identifies the theories that guide E-contact interventions, provides meta-analytic evidence of its effects, and discusses the strengths, limitations and future directions for E-contact research.     

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

A correlational study investigated extended contact as a strategy to improve outgroup attitudes and stereotyping and to prepare children for future contact. Additional aims were to investigate when and why the effects of extended contact occur. In particular, intergroup empathy was tested as a mediator and direct contact (i.e. cross‐group friendship) as a moderator of extended contact. Participants were Italian and immigrant elementary school children. Results showed that extended contact was associated with improved intergroup empathy, which, in turn, was associated with more positive outgroup attitudes, stereotypes and behavioural intentions. These effects were significant only among participants with a low or moderate level of direct contact. The theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhancing the Imagined Contact Effect

ABSTRACT

Recent research has found that mentally simulating positive out-group contact experiences can promote tolerance and more positive intergroup perceptions. We investigated two ways of enhancing this imagined contact effect. In Study 1 we found that asking participants to generate more detail in their imagined encounter led to expectations of their having a greater number of out-group acquaintances in the future. In Study 2 we found that instructing participants to close their eyes during an imagined encounter led to heightened intentions to engage in future actual contact. These findings add further support to the notion that imagining intergroup contact may be a valuable addition to existing interventions aimed at improving intergroup relations.     

群际接触理论——一种改善群际关系的理论

在群际接触假说基础上形成的群际接触理论表明, 群际接触具有改善群际关系、减少群际偏见的作用。围绕群际接触理论的最新研究拓展了研究对象, 研究了群际接触对外显和内隐偏见的降低作用, 间接接触的作用也开始被重视。群际接触减少偏见的作用机制涵盖依存关系、群际互动、情绪因素和认知因素四个方面。在对平等的地位、共同的目标、群际合作以及权威、法律的支持几个条件进行分析的基础上, 越来越多的研究开始关注跨群体友谊的重要性。在未来的研究中, 需要注意提高研究的生态效度、完善群际接触理论的理论体系, 对不良的群际接触予以重视, 并注意与其他相关理论相结合, 在更广阔的背景下审视群际接触理论。     

Emoji图像符号的社交功能及应用

Emoji是一种从最初模仿挪用日式动漫符号, 到后来日益扩展其使用范围的图像符号体系。自从1999年Shegetaka Kurita创造Emoji以来, Emoji不断获得充实和发展, 目前已成为数字交流中代替肢体动作、面部表情等非语言线索的主要形式, 并成为全球普遍使用的交流工具。Emoji本身具有有趣、形象、生动和幽默等特点, 在网络交流中具有表达情感、加强表达、改变语气、维持或增进人际关系等功能。同时, 其使用会受到性别、文化、语境和平台等因素的影响。目前, 随着Emoji的不断发展和广泛使用, 其应用范围已经扩展至网络交流之外的心理测量、商业营销、法律判决以及情感分析等领域, 具有广泛的应用和研究价值。未来可以从以下几个方面进一步深入研究：(1)进一步探索Emoji在网络交流中的应用和未来发展趋势; (2)加大对Emoji在其他领域中应用情况的进一步研究; (3)更加深入探索Emoji的神经生理机制; (4)从认知加工角度来探讨Emoji在网络交流中的积极效果。     

Fostering Contact After Historical Atrocities: The Potential of Moral Exemplars

Intergroup contact is a known remedy for complicated intergroup relations. At the same time, contact is rare in postconflict settings. In the present article, we examine whether exposure to narratives about moral exemplars (i.e., members of a perpetrator group who acted morally and in opposition to the passivity or aggression displayed by majority) could increase openness to contact among historical adversaries. In Study 1 (N = 73), presenting members of a historical perpetrator group with information about ingroup moral exemplars led to a decrease of prejudice towards individuals from a historical victim group, which, in turn, resulted in higher openness to contact with them. In Study 2 (N = 100) and 3 (N = 92), exposure to narratives about outgroup moral exemplars in a historically victimized group increased openness to contact with members of a perpetrator group. These effects were mediated by a decrease in prejudice (Studies 2 and 3) and by an increase in trust towards historical perpetrators (Study 2).     

Contact theory in the workplace: The case of Jewish–Arab contact in Israel

Contact theory is a fundamental theory in social psychology, suggesting that contact between antagonistic groups can reduce prejudice and stereotypes. The current study applies former studies in evaluating a specific case of the connection between contact and attitudes toward minorities in work contexts. A survey was conducted using 873 Israeli Jews in order to assess their attitudes toward the Arab population in Israel and Arabs' work characteristics. The results indicated that the connection between intergroup contact and attitudes is complex. On the one hand, workplace contact between Israeli Jews and Arabs was significantly correlated with the willingness to meet Arabs in and outside the workplace and to perceive Arabs in a less threatening way. However, contact during work was not significantly correlated with the participants' general attitude toward the Arab population. In addition, contact during work was not found to be significantly correlated with the participants' perceptions about Arabs' personality traits or work characteristics. The results of this study also suggest that attitudes toward Arabs' work characteristics have a strong connection to other dimensions of attitudes toward Arabs, even more than the impact of contact during work.     

Intergroup Contact and Prejudice Against People With Schizophrenia

There is a growing awareness that responses to mental health disorders differ according to the label. Still, research on contact and prejudice against people with mental health disorders has generally focused on the broader label, “mental illness,” as though various disorders were interchangeable. The present research specifically investigated the relationship between intergroup contact and avoidance of people with schizophrenia—a particularly stigmatized and challenging group—as well as mediators of that relationship. In Study 1, 78 students completed measures of their prior contact with and prejudice against people with schizophrenia. Prior contact predicted less desired avoidance of people with schizophrenia, and this relationship was mediated by more favorable attitudes. Study 2 (N = 122) replicated the results of Study 1, and also found that less fear and less intergroup anxiety mediated the relationship between contact and avoidance. This suggests that contact may effectively reduce prejudice, even against this highly stigmatized group.     

Sexual Contact Between Psychologists and Patients

Summary

This article discusses sexualized dual relationships between psychologists and patients, including both sexual contacts while treatment is in progress and after its termination. The reported prevalences of sexual contact between psychologists and patients and between psychologists and former patients are discussed as well as practitioners attitudes towards these two types of relationships. The profiles of both psychologists and patients likely to be involved are outlined as are the clinical and professional consequences of these behaviours. Finally, the APA Ethics Code (2002) is examined to determine whether its inclusions in these areas are adequate and to shed more light on clinicians' continued roles and responsibilities even after treatments have concluded.     

Perceptual organization of acoustic stimuli by budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): III. Contact calls

We trained budgerigars by operant conditioning to discriminate among a set of contact calls in a same-different task and analyzed response latencies from this task by using multidimensional-scaling (MDS) and cluster-analysis procedures. Humans listened to the same calls and indicated the similarity between pairs of calls by a direct rating procedure. An MDS program (sindscal) was used to arrange these complex acoustic stimuli in multidimensional space reflecting perceptual organization. Multiple regression techniques were used to identify the acoustic characteristics of contact calls that were correlated with the perceptual dimensions obtained from MDS. A number of spectral characteristics (e.g., peak frequency, rate of frequency modulation, and concentration of spectral energy) emerged as important for both budgerigars and humans, but the relative salience of these cues differed for the two species. Additional tests with two groups of budgerigars--cagemates and noncagemates--showed that experience with calls can change the salience of various acoustic characteristics used for perceptual organization and individual recognition.     

Information on Information: Recent Curriculum Reform

Recent curriculum reform in western educational systems has seen a major emphasis on electronic technology, but reform literature seldom problematises the form that this new education should take in this new mode of information. From the particular case of New Zealand it is argued that knowledge has been replaced by information, knowing that (something is the case) by knowing how (acquiring skills), while electronic writing tends to be treated as a mere extension of print literacy. However, the information economy is a major force restructuring not only the curriculum but, also, our social and cultural relations, established notions of knowledge, authority, and rights, and our notions of subjectivity. The purpose of this paper is to problematise this move to information in the new electronic technologies.     

群际信任的增进:社会认同与群际接触的方法

群际信任是衡量群际关系的一个重要尺度.群际信任指人们在群际互动中对其他群体成员的行为或意向做积极预期而且愿意承受相应的风险,这种信任主要是由群体成员所属的社会身份所决定的,表现为内群体成员对外群体成员的信任.影响群际信任的因素包括社会群体身份及其表征和群体之间的接触经验,增进群际信任的方法主要包括社会认同与群际接触两大类方法.未来的研究需结合已有进展和社会现实问题对中国的群际信任问题及增进方法进行深入和系统的探讨.     

Online and offline social networks: Use of social networking sites by emerging adults

Social networking sites (e.g., MySpace and Facebook) are popular online communication forms among adolescents and emerging adults. Yet little is known about young people's activities on these sites and how their networks of “friends” relate to their other online (e.g., instant messaging) and offline networks. In this study, college students responded, in person and online, to questions about their online activities and closest friends in three contexts: social networking sites, instant messaging, and face-to-face. Results showed that participants often used the Internet, especially social networking sites, to connect and reconnect with friends and family members. Hence, there was overlap between participants' online and offline networks. However, the overlap was imperfect; the pattern suggested that emerging adults may use different online contexts to strengthen different aspects of their offline connections. Information from this survey is relevant to concerns about young people's life online.     

Contact and Community: The Role of Social Interactions for a Political Identity

Can social interaction contribute to a sense of community that transcends national borders? This question was initially raised by Deutsch (1953) and revived by Fligstein (2008). My analysis makes two contributions to this literature. First, insights from social psychology are applied to specify the microfoundations for why contact across group boundaries can be related to a collective identity. Second, a new three‐wave panel data set is used to examine the relationship empirically. The sample includes almost 1,500 students at 38 German universities. The results show that social interaction contributes to a European identity, but that it is in particular contact with other international students rather than contact with hosts that fosters it most effectively. The data also reveal that contact has a more profound impact on individuals with a weak European identity to begin with. Finally, the change I find is stable after students return to their home institutions.     

Tracking Substance Abusers in Longitudinal Research: Understanding Follow-Up Contact Difficulty

Studies examining follow-up contact difficulty provide useful information for planning longitudinal studies and for assessing the validity of follow-up data. Contact difficulty was examined among 96 substance abusers following substance abuse treatment. Interview completion rates at the 3-month and 6-month follow-ups were 93 and 97%, respectively. The extent of contact efforts required to complete follow-up interviews varied substantially but tended to be greater at the 3-month follow-up than at the 6-month follow-up. Contact difficulty was related to reuse of substances at the 3-month and at the 6-month follow-ups with reusers requiring greater contact efforts than abstainers. None of the baseline individual and contextual variables examined significantly predicted level of contact effort at follow-ups. Attrition-related validity implications are discussed along with practical suggestions for planning tracking efforts.     

想象接触对大学生内隐态度和外显态度的影响

本研究旨在探讨想象接触对不同民族群体内隐态度和外显态度的影响。实验1和实验2分别随机选取不同先前接触经验的汉族大学生和维吾尔族大学生进行想象接触,采用“单类内隐联想测验(SC-IAT)”和外显态度量表评估不同条件下的内隐态度和外显态度。结果表明：想象接触显著提高了不同群体对外群体的内隐态度,对外显态度影响不显著;而先前接触经验对不同群体的内隐态度影响不显著,对外显态度影响显著。研究还发现,即使是已经发生过面对面接触的个体,也可以通过想象接触来提高对外群体的内隐态度,进一步拓展了想象接触在整个群际接触体系中地位和作用。     

Talking to a (Segregation) Wall: Intergroup Contact and Attitudes Toward Normalization Among Palestinians From the Occupied Territories

This article examines how Palestinians' intergroup contact experiences relate to their attitudes towards interactions with Israelis (i.e., normalization). We draw on four recent advances in intergroup contact literature. First, recent research indicates that positive contact can impede disadvantaged groups' motivation to challenge inequalities. Second, increased endorsement of normalization mediates this sedative effect of positive contact on motivation to resist in the West Bank. Third, negative contact has been related to increased motivation for social change. Fourth, institutions and societal norms shape the meaning of intergroup contact and its effect on intergroup relations. We hypothesize that negative experiences at checkpoints can act as reminders of institutionalized inequalities and thus attenuate sedative effects. Furthermore, we explore the contextual boundary conditions of such reminder effects. Analyses of cross-sectional survey conducted among a representative sample (N = 1,000) in the West Bank including Jerusalem showed that (1) positive intergroup contact related to normalization endorsement (sedative effect), (2) negative intergroup contact related to decreased normalization endorsement (mobilizing effect), and (3) negative contact experiences (at checkpoints) canceled out the effect of positive contact (reminder effect), but only in Jerusalem. Results suggest that the impacts of intergroup contact need to be interpreted in light of institutionalized forms of group inequality and segregation.     

Reducing Competitive Victimhood in Kosovo: The Role of Extended Contact and Common Ingroup Identity

During intractable conflicts, “competitive victimhood” refers to the subjective belief that one's own ingroup has suffered more than the outgroup. Although competitive victimhood is considered an important inhibitor of reconciliation processes, no research has attempted to examine ways of reducing it. The present study aims to fill this gap. Kosovar Albanians students (N = 170) were asked to report their perception of ingroup and outgroup victimhood during the protracted violence between Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo. Our findings revealed that frequent and high‐quality extended contact with outgroup members and identification with a common ingroup reduced competitive victimhood. The effects of extended contact and common ingroup identification were fully mediated by increased perspective taking and trust toward the outgroup, and by decreased outgroup infrahumanization. The implications of these results for restoring fractured intergroup relations are discussed.     

Positive and negative intergroup contact and shared reality: Contact effects among host society and refugees

Two cross-sectional studies examined the relationship between positive and negative intergroup contact and shared reality from a majority and a minority group perspective and indirect effects via two types of intergroup threat (threat to identity for the majority, discrimination fear for the minority) and differential closeness. Research was conducted in the context of German–Syrian relations to contrast contact effects on shared reality among German host society members and Syrian refugees. Study 1 revealed unique and asymmetrical effects of valenced contact on shared reality and indirect effects via threat to identity and differential closeness (N = 226). In Study 2, positive contact among Syrian refugees (N = 121) increased shared reality via differential closeness. Negative contact showed no relation to shared reality, but mediation analyses indicated an indirect effect via discrimination fear. Differences between majority and minority contact effects on shared reality are discussed along with the studies’ limitations and implications.