Improving intergroup relations between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland via E-contact

Northern Ireland is characterised by extensive segregation between its predominantly Catholic and Protestant communities. With the aim of overcoming this segregation, the current study experimentally evaluated the effectiveness of electronic or E-contact as a novel indirect contact and prejudice-reduction strategy. Here, Catholic and Protestant participants were not required to meet physically but were involved in a collaborative and goal-orientated online interaction with a member of the other community. As predicted, E-contact improved both Catholics’ and Protestants’ outgroup attitudes via improved contact expectancies and reduced intergroup anxiety. These findings provide support for the contemporary role of online interactions in actively overcoming the physical and psychological barriers that often prevent prejudice reduction in segregated communities.     

Examining Care and Opposition in the Narratives of U.S. Local Women of Color Activists

As a result of persisting stigma, transgender people experience vastly higher rates of harassment, violence, and mental health issues compared to cisgender people. The current study experimentally evaluated a computer-mediated intergroup contact strategy, called E-contact, to reduce transgender stigma. E-contact is a synchronous, cooperative, goal-directed online interaction which is informed by Allport’s intergroup contact theory. In total, 114 cisgender, heterosexual, Australian undergraduates and community members (83 women, 31 men) were randomly allocated to E-contact with an online confederate who either disclosed that they were a transgender woman or a cisgender woman. Following the online interaction, participants then completed measures assessing prior transgender contact and transgender stigma. The findings revealed that transgender E-contact reduced stigma for cisgender men whereas it had no impact on women’s already lower levels of stigma. These novel findings have important implications for researchers, policymakers and counsellors interested in developing transgender stigma reduction interventions by (a) highlighting the importance of transgender contact for those individuals with low or poor prior contact and (b) targeting prejudice-prone populations, such as men, who stand to gain the most from such cooperative, goal-directed interventions.

     

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.     

Investigating the role of E-contact and self-disclosure on improving Turkish-Kurdish interethnic relations

While recent research has started to pay more attention to the role of contact strategies on promoting intergroup harmony between Turkish and Kurdish communities, the effectiveness of a novel form of indirect contact strategy, E-contact—where participants engage in a cooperative and structured online interaction with an individual from the outgroup—has not yet been tested. Across two studies (N_{Study 1} = 110, N_{Study 2} = 176), we investigated the effects of E-contact among Turks on promoting positive attitudes and behavioral tendencies toward Kurds, testing outgroup trust and intergroup anxiety as mediators and incorporating a distinction between lower and higher self-disclosure conditions. As expected, E-contact led to more positive outgroup attitudes, as well as greater approach tendencies and decreased avoidance tendencies through increased outgroup trust (Studies 1 and 2) and reduced intergroup anxiety (Study 2). Study 2 also found that E-contact produced lower perceived interethnic conflict through increased outgroup trust. While both lower and higher personal disclosure conditions provided similar effects in the two studies, E-contact with heightened self-disclosure was especially effective at promoting more positive outgroup attitudes and reducing avoidance tendencies. Findings highlight potential benefits of using E-contact as a prejudice-reduction strategy in conflict settings.     

想象积极群际接触与群际关系改善实验研究述评

想象群际接触的基本思想指,在心理上想象一个积极的群际接触会创设一个心理接触的脚本,激发与外群体成员成功互动的观念,积极互动观念也就伴随产生对外群体的积极情感,导致对外群体的积极感知,增强和外群体进一步接触的意愿。想象群际接触的实验操纵比较简单,设置实验组和控制组,采用指导语的方式,但是想象群际接触的效应受群体地位、内群体认同状况等变量的调节。在未来的研究中, 需要注意提高研究的效度,加强机制、直接行为效应的研究,想象群际接触理论为改善群际关系提供了一个崭新的框架。     

Fitting in: How the intergroup context shapes minority acculturation and achievement

ABSTRACT

Children of immigrants are at risk of underachieving in school with long-lasting consequences for future life-chances. Our research contextualises the achievement gap by examining minority acculturation experiences in daily intergroup contact across different intergroup contexts. Acculturation researchers often find an adaptive advantage for minority youth with an integration-orientation (combining both cultures). But findings from Europe are inconclusive. Looking beyond individual differences in acculturation-orientations, this review shifts focus to the intergroup context of minority acculturation and achievement. We discuss longitudinal, multi-group, multi-level and experimental evidence of the up- and downsides of integration for minority inclusion and success in European societies. Our studies show that both (1) intergroup contact experiences and (2) intergroup ideologies affect achievement – either directly or through the interplay of (3) acculturation-norms, defined as shared views on acculturation in social groups, with individual acculturation-orientations. The findings suggest how schools can reduce achievement gaps through improving intergroup relations.     

Social Cure Processes Help Lower Intergroup Anxiety Among Neighborhood Residents

Research in the social cure tradition shows that groups can reduce members' stress by providing support to cope with challenges, but it has yet to consider how this applies to the anxiety occasioned by outgroups. Research on intergroup contact has extensively examined how reducing intergroup anxiety improves attitudes towards outgroups, but it has yet to examine the role of intragroup support processes in facilitating this. The present article takes the case of residential contact, in which the impact of diversification upon neighborhood cohesion is hotly debated, but the role of neighborhood identification and social support from neighbors in facilitating residential mixing has been largely ignored. Our surveys of two geographically bounded communities in England (n = 310; n = 94) and one in Northern Ireland (n = 206) show that neighborhood identification predicts both well-being and more positive feelings towards outgroups, with both effects occurring via increased intragroup support. In studies 2 and 3, we show that this positive effect on feelings towards the outgroup occurs independently of that of intergroup contact and is further explained by the effect of neighborhood support in reducing intergroup anxiety. This suggests that social cure processes can improve intergroup attitudes by supporting group members to deal with the stress of intergroup interactions.     

Is an outgroup member in need a friend indeed? Personal and task‐oriented contact as predictors of intergroup prosocial behavior

Intergroup contact, particularly close personal contact, has been shown to improve intergroup relations, mainly by reducing negative attitudes and emotions toward outgroups. We argue that contact can also increase intergroup prosocial behavior. More specifically, we predict that different forms of contact will differentially impact on prosocial behavior directed at individual outgroup members and outgroups as a whole. Data of two studies (N₁ = 264, N₂ = 185), conducted with workgroups in two organizations, show that personal contact is a better predictor of prosocial behavior directed at individual outgroup members, whereas task‐oriented contact is a better predictor of prosocial behavior directed at an outgroup as a whole. Additionally, Study 2 provides evidence that empathy mediates the path from personal contact to individual‐directed prosocial behavior, whereas reward (but not cost) considerations mediate the path from task‐oriented contact to outgroup‐directed prosocial behavior. Implications for research on intergroup contact and prosocial behavior are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

群际接触减少偏见的机制：一项整合的研究

以321名少数民族大学生为被试,考察了民族接触（与汉族）、交往态度、民族认同、民族本质论、民族刻板印象和群际焦虑等变量,以整合的视角探讨了民族接触促进民族交往的机制问题。研究结果表明：民族接触通过降低群际焦虑和民族认同、减弱消极刻板印象和民族本质论而间接促进了民族交往,民族认同在民族接触和民族本质论之间、消极刻板印象在民族接触和群际焦虑之间存在中介作用。这项整合的研究理论上丰富了群际接触减少偏见的机制研究,发现了新的中介变量,对促进民族交往的实践具有指导意义。     

想象积极群际接触对利他型集体行动意愿的影响:系统公正感和群际评价的中介作用

集体行动是维护和实现社会公平正义的有效途径之一。以往研究主要聚焦于弱势群体利己型集体行动,很少有研究考察利他型集体行动的影响因素。本研究采用双随机设计,通过三个实验探讨积极群际接触与利他型集体行动的中介效应因果模型。实验1采用想象性群际接触范式操纵积极群际接触,发现积极群际接触促进利他型集体行动,系统公正感和群际评价中的热情维度起中介作用。实验2与实验3分别操纵系统公正感和热情,检验中介变量与因变量间的因果关系,证实了积极群际接触-系统公正感、热情-利他型集体行动的因果关系链。     

Self-motivated behaviour: Its influence on intergroup contact for intergroup harmony

We investigated the role of self-motivated behaviour in promoting intergroup member contact for intergroup harmony. A multi-ethnic group of 68 freshmen students attending a Nigerian state university were participants (female = 43.8%; Mean age = 22.15 years, SD = 2.35 years; Igbo = 45.6%, Hausa/Fulani = 20.4%, Yoruba = 24.5%, and others = 9.5%). By religious affiliation, the students comprised Christians (62%) and Muslims (38%). The students took part in an intergroup contact learning assignment designed for them to interact with others outside their class cohort and from a different ethnic group to themselves. They completed measures of self-motivated behaviours defined by self-efficacy, self-interest, learning predisposition, as well as intergoup harmony. Tests of mediation revealed significant positive indirect effects of intergroup member contact on intergroup harmony through self-efficacy, self-interest, and learning behaviour. Self-motivated behaviour fully mediated the relationship between intergroup contact and intergroup harmony among students in Nigerian multi-ethnic settings. Self-motivated behaviour may facilitate peace-building and intergroup harmony, for management of intergroup relations, among Nigerian major ethnic groups premised on intergroup contact.     

群际接触中的群际隔离微生态

群际隔离微生态认为当公共空间中群际接触自然发生时,相比较内群体成员个体在空间距离上远离外群体成员;介绍了群际隔离微生态的维度、心理机制、实施过程、测度指标;分析了群际隔离微生态的相关研究现状和不足,在未来的研究中需要加强立论点、解释机制、研究方法的探索的研究,为群际接触研究提供了新的视角。     

A dual identity-electronic contact (DIEC) experiment promoting short- and long-term intergroup harmony

Existing intergroup harmony programs have been short in length with little long-term evaluation of their true effectiveness. This experiment addresses this limitation through the development and evaluation of a new intergroup harmony program that integrates dual identity and contact tenets. At Time 1, 116 Australian Muslim and 104 Australian Christian first-year high school students attending religiously segregated schools completed pre-test measures of intergroup bias, intergroup anxiety, prejudice, and outgroup knowledge. Eight months later, in the next year of school, these students were allocated to either the nine-week dual identity-electronic or E-contact (DIEC) program that involved Muslim and Christians interacting via a synchronous internet chat tool, or the control condition where they completed the program within their religious groups with no recategorization. All participants completed the same pre-test measures at two weeks (Time 2) and 6-months (Time 3) post-program. At Time 2, for students in the DIEC condition, intergroup bias and intergroup anxiety decreased significantly, and outgroup knowledge increased significantly, compared to the control condition. In the case of intergroup bias, the decrease was maintained at Time 3. Moderation effects of ingroup identification and outgroup friendship, and mediation effects of intergroup anxiety were also found. These encouraging findings highlight that carefully designed E-contact programs can successfully promote intergroup harmony in both the short- and long-term.     

群际威胁：影响因素与减少策略

群际威胁是增强消极刻板印象和偏见的重要因素, 甚至可以导致群际冲突或暴力。影响群际威胁的因素包括个体的感知与经验、群体特征、社会政策和法规等。通过改变社会分类, 模糊群际边界, 并创造群际接触的机会, 能够增加群际认同感, 降低群际威胁感, 减少群际偏见, 促进积极的群际关系。今后的研究需在不同的社会环境中完善群际威胁的理论模型, 并探索相关变量相互作用的内在机制, 为促进和改善群际关系提供理论依据。     

Acculturation preferences and behavioural tendencies between majority and minority groups: The mediating role of emotions

The main goal of this research was twofold. First, we aimed at determining how acculturation preferences and emotions were related to specific intergroup behavioural tendencies towards majority and minority groups. Second, we aimed at developing an intergroup behavioural tendencies scale that differentiates between valence (facilitation and harm) and intensity (active and passive). The role of intergroup contact was also examined, as it is a known predictor of intergroup prejudice. In order to fulfil these goals, we carried out two studies. In Study 1 , Spanish participants (N = 279) answered a questionnaire about Moroccans (a devalued group) or Ecuadorians (a valued group) by reporting their acculturation preferences for immigrants, their positive and negative emotions, quantity of contact with them and behavioural tendencies towards them. In Study 2 , Moroccans (N = 92) and Ecuadorians (N = 87) assessed Spaniards on these measures. Results confirmed the structure of the new behavioural tendencies scale across four groups of participants. Overall, findings also showed that acculturation preferences and quantity of contact indirectly predicted behavioural tendencies through positive emotions. This research contributes to knowledge on how the majority and minority's acculturation preferences are related to their emotions and specific dimensions of intergroup behavioural tendencies, confirming the predominant mediating role of positive emotions in this process.     

Including Both Voices: A New Bidirectional Framework for Understanding and Improving Intergroup Relations

Methods: If successful intergroup harmony is to be achieved between two groups, then both groups' voices must be heard. Despite this, 60 years of social psychological “intergroup” prejudice research has tended to adopt a solely majority‐centric perspective, with the majority group portrayed as the active agent of prejudice, and the minority group as passive targets. Objective: This paper critically reviews relevant literature, highlighting this unidirectional imbalance, and proposes a new, two‐stage bidirectional framework, where we encourage researchers and educators to first understand how minority and majority groups' intergroup attitudes and emotions impact intergroup dynamics, before tailoring and implementing contact and recategorisation strategies to improve intergroup relations, nationally and internationally. Conclusion: We argue that the interactive nature of the intergroup dynamic needs to be better understood, and each group's voice heard, before prejudice can be effectively reduced. Lastly, we describe an Australian study, the Dual Identity and Electronic‐contact (DIEC) programme, that has been conducted and has successfully applied this bidirectional framework.     

How positive and negative contact relate to attitudes towards Roma: Comparing majority and high‐status minority perspectives

Intergroup contact scholars have recently called for analyzing the effects of negative intergroup contact. In response to this call, we examined the correlates of positive and negative contact with one of the most stigmatized ethnic minorities, that is, Roma. We conducted a study in Bulgaria considering the point of view of the ethnic Bulgarian majority (n = 516) and of Bulgarian Turks (n = 274), an ethnic minority with higher status compared to Roma. Regression analyses showed that positive contact was associated with reduced prejudice and more support for pro‐Roma policies, while negative contact revealed the opposite pattern. These associations did not differ between ethnic Bulgarians and Bulgarian Turks. Moreover, positive and negative intergroup emotions mediated the relationships between positive and negative contact on the one hand and prejudice and policy support on the other. Our study highlights the importance of emotional processes involved in positive and negative intergroup contact experiences and encourages future research to analyze how absolute versus relative status differences shape the effects of positive and negative contact in complex hierarchical societies.     

随迁老人和本地老人的群际接触与其幸福感的关系

心理学研究缺乏对随迁老人的关注，更鲜有研究探讨群际接触与随迁老人幸福感的关系。本研究采用一般群际接触数量和接触质量量表、群际接触问卷、纽芬兰纪念大学幸福度量表和积极消极情感量表对北京市昌平区的178名随迁老人和62名本地老人进行调查，分析随迁老人和本地老人的群际接触与其幸福感的关系。结果发现：（1）随迁老人与本地老人的群际接触存在明显的非对称性。随迁老人的群际接触数量和接触意愿均显著高于本地老人，但群际接触感受与本地老人没有显著差异。（2）群际接触质量显著正向预测随迁老人的幸福感水平。（3）群际接触对本地老人的幸福感和积极情感也均有显著的正向预测作用。     

Effects of contact and personality on intergroup attitudes of different professionals†

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of intergroup contact, personality, and demographic characteristics on the intergroup attitudes of police officers, medical doctors and nurses (N=421; 274 females, 147 males). Following the contact hypothesis, intergroup contact in and of itself was not expected to be sufficient for reducing intergroup prejudice, especially in unequal contacts between professionals and their clients. It was argued that the quality of contact required for the improvement of intergroup attitudes is not equal status or emotional closeness of the participants, but rather that of individuation and familiarity of the outgroup member. The results showed that both level of authoritarianism and individuation of an outgroup member affected intergroup attitudes across all types of contact. For authoritarianism, this result did not hold separately for males, but the individuation effect was very stable; those who knew an outgroup member only superficially held more negative intergroup attitudes than those who knew him or her well, even in unequal and non‐voluntary contacts, and even when controlling for authoritarianism, gender, education and professional field. The effect was non‐significant in voluntary contacts. No differences in intergroup attitudes were found between males and females or between the professional groups among males after controlling for authoritarianism. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Reducing Prejudice: Combating Intergroup Biases

Strategies for reducing prejudice may be directed at the traditional, intentional form of prejudice or at more subtle and perhaps less conscious contemporary forms. Whereas the traditional form of prejudice may be reduced by direct educational and attitude-change techniques, contemporary forms may require alternative strategies oriented toward the individual or involving intergroup contact. Individual-oriented techniques can involve leading people who possess contemporary prejudices to discover inconsistencies among their self-images, values, and behaviors; such inconsistencies can arouse negative emotional states (e.g., guilt), which motivate the development of more favorable attitudes. Intergroup strategies can involve structuring intergroup contact to produce more individualized perceptions of the members of the other group, foster personalized interactions between members of the different groups, or redefine group boundaries to create more inclusive, superordinate representations of the groups. Understanding the nature and bases of prejudice can thus guide, theoretically and pragmatically, interventions that can effectively reduce both traditional and contemporary forms of prejudice.