Anja Eller

An age apart: the effects of intergenerational contact and stereotype threat on performance and intergroup bias.

An experimental study examined the effect of intergenerational contact and stereotype threat on older peoples cognitive performance, anxiety, intergroup bias, and identification. Participants completed a series of cognitive tasks under high or low stereotype threat (through comparison with younger people). In line with stereotype threat theory, threat resulted in worse performance. However, this did not occur if prior intergenerational contact had been more positive. This moderating effect of contact was mediated by test-related anxiety. In line with intergroup contact theory, more positive contact was associated with reduced prejudice and reduced ingroup identification. However this occurred in the high threat, but not low threat, condition. The findings suggest that positive intergenerational contact can reduce vulnerability to stereotype threat among older people.

'Gringos' in Mexico: Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Effects of Language School- Promoted Contact on Intergroup Bias

A longitudinal field study examined Pettigrew’s (1998) intergroup contact theory and Gaertner et al.’s (2000) Common Ingroup Identity Model (CIIM). In Pettigrew’s model, the contact-prejudice relation is mediated by changing behavior, ingroup reappraisal, generating affective ties, and learning about the outgroup. Pettigrew’s integration of the three chief models of contact generalization into a time-sequence holds that contact first elicits decategorization, then salient categorization, and finally recategorization. In CIIM, these three levels of categorization—plus a fourth, dual identity—are thought to be mediators in the contact-prejudice relation. Results underline the crucial mediating role of behavior modification in Pettigrew’s model and interpersonal and superordinate levels in CIIM. An attempt to partially integrate the two models is presented.

Improving intergroup relations through direct, extended and other forms of indirect contact

The benefits of direct, personal contact with members of another group are well established empirically. This Special Issue complements that body of work by demonstrating the effects of various forms of indirect contact on intergroup attitudes and relations. Indirect contact includes (a) extended contact: learning that an ingroup member is friends with an outgroup member, (b) vicarious contact: observing an ingroup member interact with an outgroup member, and (c) imagined contact: imagining oneself interacting with an outgroup member. The effects of indirect contact not only occur independently of direct contact, they often involve distinct psychological mechanisms. The present article briefly reviews work on direct intergroup contact and then discusses recent theoretical and empirical developments in the study of extended contact, vicarious contact, and imagined contact. We consider the similarities and distinctions in the dynamics of these forms of indirect contact and conclude by identifying promising directions for future research.

Race and willingness to cooperate with the police: The roles of quality of contact, attitudes towards the behaviour and subjective norms

Black individuals are usually reluctant to co-operate with the police (Smith, 1983a). We propose that a history of unpleasant interactions with the police generates hostile attitudes towards the institution (Jefferson & Walker, 1993). Using a sample of 56 black and 64 white participants, we examined whether quality of contact predicts black peoples attitudes and subjective norms concerning co-operating with the police. Our findings indicated that the Contact Hypothesis (Pettigrew, 1998) and Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) jointly provide some insight into the disinclination of black individuals to co-operate with the police. We found that the relationship between race and attitudes or subjective norms concerning co-operation with police investigations was mediated by quality of previous contact with the police. In turn, the relationship between quality of contact and willingness to co-operate with police investigations was mediated by both attitudes and subjective norms. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Two degrees of separation A longitudinal study of actual and perceived extended international contact

Extended contact theory proposes that knowledge of ingroup-outgroup friendships leads to reductions of intergroup bias by reducing ignorance about the outgroup and intergroup anxiety, and by increasing awareness of positive outgroup exemplars (e.g., observation of friendly behavior towards an ingroup member), and inclusion of other in the self. Over a one-year period we examined extended contact among home country friends of international students who had direct contact with British people through their study period in Britain. This provides a stringent test of extended contact theory, both due to the longitudinal design, and the inclusion of both actual and perceived naturally arising extended contact. As predicted by extended contact theory, increases in extended contact over time predicted all variables but intergroup anxiety. There was also some evidence for (weaker) reversed causal influence between prejudice and other variables. Importantly, the quality of contact experienced by the direct contact sample (international students) predicted all dependent measures in the matched extended contact sample in their home countries. Results are discussed in terms of the promise of extended contact theory for intergroup relations.

Stay cool, hang loose, admit nothing: Race, intergroup contact, and public-police relations

Drawing on the contact hypothesis of Allport (1954) and Pettigrew (1998) we examined whether public-police contact, among White and Black university students in Britain, mediated between participant race and perceived racism of police and cooperation with police, respectively. Study 1 (N = 105) showed this to be the case for quality, but not quantity of contact. High-quality contact mitigated the negative effects of being Black on greater perceived racism and lower cooperation. Study 2 (N = 130) assessed a general view of police and desired closeness to police as dependent variables and investigated the moderating potential of racial identification. Higher-quality and lower quantity of contact were associated with a more positive view of police and higher desired closeness. Identification moderated the effects of race on quantity of contact, view of police, and desired closeness, with negative effects driven by high identification.

Collateral damage for ingroup members having outgroup friends: Effects of normative versus counternormative interactions with an outgroup:

When people are aware that an ingroup member has an outgroup friend, they tend to improve their intergroup attitudes, which is known as the extended contact hypothesis. Thus far, no research has tested how the perceived degree of normativity of the intergroup interaction affects the evaluation of the ingroup member through which extended contact is experienced. Results of three studies showed that when contact was normative (i.e., positive contact with a liked outgroup, or negative contact with a disliked outgroup), the ingroup member was evaluated positively, while when the contact was counternormative (i.e., negative contact with a liked outgroup or positive contact with a disliked outgroup) the ingroup member was evaluated negatively. This effect was mediated by perceived threat posed by the ingroup member who experiences the intergroup contact and perceived similarity of the participant with the ingroup member (Experiments 2–3). In summary, the perceived normativity of the extended contact affects the perception of the ingroup member who experiences the contact, turning him/her into a “white” or a “black” sheep in the eyes of the ingroup.

Identity, Contact, and Health Among Majority and Minority Ethnic Groups in Mexico and Chile

This chapter explores the relationships between social identity, intergroup contact, and health among mestizos and indigenous people in Mexico and Chile. Building on social identity theory and self-categorization theory, in Mexico and Chile important identities are based on ethnicity and nationality. There is widespread discrimination against indigenous people in both nations. While the protective influence of social relationships on health is well documented, it is not known whether this also applies to intergroup contact. We report two questionnaire-based studies (total N = 1000). Participants were asked about their direct and extended intergroup contact, their identification with subordinate and superordinate categories, and several health-related variables. Results revealed a complex pattern. For example, in both studies direct and extended outgroup contact had exclusively beneficial effects on physical and psychological health among indigenous participants while their impact for mestizo participants was more mixed. Results are discussed according to the meaning of sub-versus superordinate identities in Mexico and Chile and the divergent effects of intergroup contact on health-related variables.

#Ladies y #Gentlemen Del Df: Dominancia Social y Actitudes hacia la Discriminación

Resumen La teoria de la dominancia social (SDO) explica el nivel en que las personas aceptan o rechazan las ideologias que le imprimen legitimidad a las jerarquias y la discriminacion o a la igualdad y justicia. Este estudio aplica SDO en Mexico e investiga si la dominancia social en abstracto tiene conexion con la aprobacion de la discriminacion en concreto (usando los casos de Lady de Profeco, Ladies de Polanco y Gentleman de las Lomas ). Predecimos (1) que los hombres, los participantes de mayor edad y los que provienen de clases sociales mas altas mostrarian niveles mas altos de SDO; y (2) que la aprobacion de discriminacion sera determinada por el nivel de SDO (alto > bajo) y por clase social (alta > media > baja). Participantes fueron N=150 miembros del publico en el DF. Llenaron cuestionarios en la calle, midiendo sexo, edad, lugar de residencia, SDO y aprobacion de discriminacion. Los resultados generalmente aportaron las hipotesis. Hombres tenian puntajes mas altos de SDO que mujeres, pero las clases sociales mas bajas que altas tenian niveles mas altos de SDO. Hubo una correlacion positiva entre SDO y aprobacion de discriminacion. Los resultados se discutieron en terminos de diferencias en educacion y movilidad social.