Intergroup Contact Theory
Bringing members of different social groups into contact is thought to be as one of the most promising approaches for improving intergroup relations. Indeed, a plethora of studies has shown that this intergroup contact is an effective means not only to re
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Oliver Christ and Mathias Kauff
Contents Introduction
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Does Intergroup Contact Work? Different Forms of Intergroup Contact
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When and Why Does Intergroup Contact Work? Moderators of Contact Effects Mediators of Contact Effects Undesirable and Unintended Effects of Intergroup Contact Intergroup Contact Interventions
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An Example of a Direct Contact Intervention 153 An Example of an Indirect Contact Intervention
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Recommended Reading
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Guiding Answers to Questions in the Chapter 157 References
O. Christ (*) · M. Kauff FernUniversität in Hagen, Hagen, Germany e-mail: [email protected]
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Introduction It has sometimes been held that merely by assembling people without regard for race, color, religion, or national origin, we can thereby destroy stereotypes and develop friendly attitudes. The case is not so simple. (Allport 1954, p. 261)
The question of how prejudice and intergroup conflict can be reduced has been at the forefront of the research agendas in social sciences for many years (see Paluck & Green, 2009; Tropp & Mallett, 2011; see also Wittenbrink, Correll, & Ma, Chap. 11). Not least due to the ever- increasing migration, and as a consequence more ethnically and culturally diverse societies (World Migration Report, 2017), the reduction of (ethnic) prejudice and intergroup conflict is a major challenge for public policy (Hewstone, 2009; Wagner, Christ, & Heitmeyer, 2010). Starting in the 1930s, social scientists proposed that intergroup contact – contact between members of different groups – provides a way to overcome intergroup tensions and conflict (for recent overviews, see Pettigrew & Tropp, 2011; Al Ramiah & Hewstone, 2013; Wagner & Hewstone, 2012; for a short historical overview of intergroup contact research, see Pettigrew & Tropp, 2005, Pettigrew, 2016). However, mutual contact between members of different groups is not a panacea for prejudice as already pointed out by
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 K. Sassenberg, M. L. W. Vliek (eds.), Social Psychology in Action, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-13788-5_10
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Gordon Allport (1954, see the starting quote). Allport can be considered as the originator of the intergroup contact theory – in his famous and influential book The Nature of Prejudice, he summarized early research on intergroup contact. The present chapter will introduce intergroup contact theory as one of the most prominent approaches to prejudice reduction within psychology (e.g., Brown & Hewstone, 2005; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2011). In the first part, we will answer the question whether intergroup contact indeed helps to overcome prejudice and, as a consequence, intergroup tensions. Moreover, we will also focus on different forms of intergroup contact (face-to-face contact versus indirect forms of contact). In the second part, we will discuss when and how intergroup contact works. We also focus on undesirable, unintended effects of intergroup contact. Finally,
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