Consequences and antecedents of intergroup contact: field and experimental evidence
Year: 2012
Type: dissertation
Abstract: A great deal of social-psychological studies have shown that intergroup contact represents a powerful instrument for reducing prejudice. The contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954), according to which cooperative interactions between members of different groups can lead to more harmonious intergroup relations, has been widely tested over the last 50 years and has been confirmed in a wide variety of groups, situations and cultural contexts (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Recently, research on contact has focused on some more intimate forms of contact, such as intergroup friendships (Pettigrew, 1997, 1998), and on alternative forms of intergroup contact, such as extended contact (Wright et al., 1997). Although the extensive literature on this topic has contributed in creating a broad consensus on the effectiveness of contact in improving intergroup relations, some problems require further investigation. In the first study, the aim was to test, for the first time, the effects of direct and extended intergroup friendships on the attributions of humanity of the outgroup. A further objective was to investigate the processes of mediation which favour the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to the outgroup. A model of double mediation was tested: direct and extended friendships are the initial variables; inclusion of the outgroup in the self, (IOS; Wright et al., 1997), ingroup norms (Wright et al., 1997) and outgroup norms (Wright et al., 1997) are the first level mediators; feelings of anxiety, empathy and trust towards the outgroup are the second level mediators; the attribution of uniquely human traits to the outgroup was used as the final variable. The intergroup relationship considered was: Northerners/Southerners in Italy. Participants were all Northerners and they completed a questionnaire containing the measures included in the model. The results showed different processes of mediation for direct and indirect contact. Direct contact improves perceptions of humanity because it increases IOS which, in turn, reduces anxiety and increases empathy and trust towards the outgroup, with positive effects on outgroup humanization. Indirect contact, instead, improves perceptions of humanity by acting positively on ingroup norms (the perception that members of the ingroup are favourable to the outgroup), this perception, in turn, reduces anxiety and increases empathy and trust towards the outgroup, with positive effects on outgroup humanization. This study highlights the effectiveness of direct and extended friendships, in promoting outgroup humanization, and highlights how they operate through different processes. Despite the extensive literature on the moderators of direct contact (Brown & Hewstone, 2005), few studies have investigated the factors which moderate the effects of indirect contact. For this reason, after having examined in the first study the mediating variables of extended contact, in the second study we proposed extending these results and testing when indirect contact is more effective. The aim of the second study was to test, in the context of indirect contact, the prototypicality of the representative ingroup and outgroup member. In accordance with the self categorization theory (Turner, 1991), social influence is exerted above all by members perceived as prototypical of the group of membership. Adopting the paradigm of minimal groups (see Tajfel,1970; van Leeuwen et al., 2003), the prototypicality (similarity to the other members of the group) perceived by the exemplar of the ingroup and that of the outgroup was manipulated. The experimental design included four conditions among participants: both the exemplar of the ingroup and that of the outgroup are presented as prototypical; the exemplar of the ingroup is presented as prototypical that of the outgroup is not; the exemplar of the ingroup is not prototypical that of the outgroup is; the two representatives are both non prototypical. The experiment was introduced to the participants as a study on the productivity of groups in brainstorming tasks. On the basis of false feedback, the experimental manipulation was introduced. Participants were told that, on the basis of the answers given concerning the brainstorming, the group member who had performed the task in most similar way to the participant and to the other group members (prototypicality) or who had provided solutions similar to some members of the group and different from others (non prototypicality) had been selected. For the outgroup, they were told that the exemplar had provided similar vs different solution from other group member. Afterwards, participants were asked to imagine the meeting between their representative and that of the outgroup (imagined contact, Crisp et al., 2010). At the end of this task, participants filled in a questionnaire containing the dependent variables. Findings showed that the condition in which both the exemplars are prototypical, is the most effective for improving intergroup relations. Coherently with previous literature, these studies demonstrate that direct and indirect contact has positive effects for intergroup relations. However, only a few studies have paid attention to which variables lead people to engage in contact with members of the outgroup (Butz & Plant, 2011; Plant et al., 2010). In fact, despite the fact that contact is a useful strategy to improve intergroup relations, people do not choose spontaneously to enter into contact with the outgroup. In many contemporary societies, people belonging to different groups, despite living side by side, avoid opportunities for contact, generating forms of segregation among groups (for example, Alexander & Tredoux, 2010, Castelli, De Amicis & Sherman, 2007; Dixon & Durrheim, 2003). Across three studies, we tried to bridge this gap, identifying factors and processes which determine the inclination of people to engage in contact. In the studies which follow, for the first time in the field of intergroup relations, self-expansion (Aron, Aron, & Norman, 2001; Aron et al., 2004; Wright, Aron, & Tropp, 2002; Lewandowski et al., 2011): a motivational variable which orients towards approach was tested. According to the authors (Aron et al., 2001), the desire to expand the self is a core motivation for human beings. One way in which people attempt this expansion is through the formation of close relationships with others: this facilitates the inclusion into the self of new points of view, identities and resources. For these reasons, in these studies self-expansion was studied as antecedent of contact. Intergroup anxiety, widely studied as an emotion which reduces contact , was introduced as a control variable for the effects of self-expansion. The aim of the first study, correlational, was to analyze the predictive capacity of self-expansion, in both intragroup and intergroup relations. Participants were Australian students (N = 443). The intergroup relationship considered was City/Rural. Findings showed that self-expansion is associated to intergroup variables (such as, for example, the number of friendships) and to a greater number of close and positive relationships within the ingroup. In the second study, experimental, the hypothesis was that, when individual arefaced with a forced choice between the possibility of establishing new relations with the ingroup or with the outgroup, self-expansion should lead to prefer new relations with the outgroup. The intergroup relationship considered was between Whites vs. other Ethnic groups in the Australian university context. Participants (N = 63 whites and N = 41 from other ethnic groups) were university students. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the conditions of the experimental design 2 (Self-expansion: high vs. low) × 2 (Anxiety: high vs. low); the two factors are between participants. Findings showed a significant interaction between the participants’ ethnic group and the manipulation of self-expansion on the variable: preference of the ethnic group. This interaction reflects the fact that the white participants expressed more interest in entering into contact with members of the outgroup, when placed in the high self-expansion condition; the participants from other ethnic groups, instead, expressed a greater interest in intergroup relations, in the low self-expansion condition. Findings, moreover, showed a significant interaction between the participants’ ethnic group and the manipulation of self-expansion on the variable: preference of the white group. The white participants prefer an intragroup relationship in the low self-expansion condition, whereas the ethnic group participants expressed more interest in entering into contact with members of the outgroup, when placed in the high self-expansion condition. In the third study, the same experimental design was used as in the previous study. Participants (N = 80) were psychology students and university staff, recruited from the majority group of white Anglo-Saxons. The aim was to extend the results obtained in the two previous studies. The dependent variable was an implicit measure of approach-avoidance (Paladino & Castelli, 2006). Immediately after the manipulation, participants carried out a computer task which consisted of a series of categorization tests. In each of these tests, at the centre of the monitor a stimulus appeared; participants were asked to classify it as quickly and as accurately as possible. The stimuli were individual faces of white people (ingroup) or individual faces belonging to other ethnic groups (outgroup). Findings showed two different patterns of responses. In the conditions of low self-expansion/low anxiety, high self-expansion/low anxiety, and high self-expansion/low anxiety, participants were quicker in approaching the white faces (ingroup). In the condition of high self-expansion/high anxiety, they were quicker in approaching th
Author: Irene Favara
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2284313075