Loris Vezzali

Improving implicit and explicit intergroup attitudes using imagined contact: An experimental intervention with elementary school children

The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & Turner, 2009) on elementary school children’s explicit and implicit intergroup attitudes. Italian 5th-graders participated in a 3-week intervention involving imagining meeting an unknown immigrant peer in various situations. Approximately 1 week after the last session, they completed measures of self-disclosure and behavioral intentions toward immigrants. Furthermore, they were administered a measure of implicit prejudice. Results showed that those taking part in the intervention, compared to participants in a control condition, revealed more positive behavioral intentions and implicit attitudes toward immigrants. Moreover, self-disclosure mediated the effect of imagined contact on outgroup behavioral intentions. Theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed.

Improving intergroup relations with extended and vicarious forms of indirect contact

Research in social psychology has provided impressive evidence that intergroup contact reduces prejudice. However, to the extent that strategies based on direct contact are sometimes difficult to implement, scholars have more recently focused on indirect contact. An effective form of indirect contact is extended contact. According to the extended contact hypothesis, simply knowing that ingroup members have outgroup friends (extended contact), or observing these friendships vicariously (vicarious contact), can improve intergroup relations. Since its initial formulation a large body of studies has supported the validity of the extended contact hypothesis. In reviewing the available literature on two forms of indirect contact (extended and vicarious), we outline a model that identifies their antecedents and consequences, spanning from cognitive to affective to behavioural outcomes. In addition to identifying the main moderators of indirect contact, we also distinguish two different routes, one cognitive and one affective, that underlie what processes mediate their effects. Finally, we indicate some possible avenues for future research and we consider how direct and indirect contact strategies can be used in combination to improve intergroup relations.

Can intergroup contact improve humanity attributions

In this paper, intergroup contact was evaluated as a strategy to favor outgroup humanization. We tested a double-mediation model, in which contact is associated with both decreased salience of intergroup boundaries and the adoption of a common identity. These recategorizations, in turn, are related to lower levels of anxiety and higher levels of empathy, both emotions being proximal predictors of outgroup humanization. The model was tested using structural equation modeling in the context of different intergroup relations: Italians versus immigrants (Study 1); Northern Italians versus Southern Italians (Study 2). Supporting the hypotheses, group representations and emotions mediated the relationship between contact and humanity attributions. The practical implications of results are discussed.

Imagined intergroup contact facilitates intercultural communication for college students on academic exchange programs

Imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & Turner, 2009) is a new cognitive intervention designed to improve intergroup relations. In two studies, we examined whether it could also facilitate intercultural communication among international students and host country natives engaged in a college exchange program. In Study 1, international students who had recently arrived in Italy and participated in an imagined contact session displayed increased self-disclosure toward, and improved evaluation of, host country natives. In Study 2, Italian students mentally simulated positive contact with an unknown native from the host country prior to leaving for the exchange. Results from an online questionnaire administered on their return (on average, more than 7 months after the imagery task) revealed that participants who imagined contact reported spending more time with natives during the stay and enhanced outgroup evaluation, via reduced intergroup anxiety. Implications for enhancing the quality and effectiveness of college student exchange programs are discussed.

‘And the best essay is…’: Extended contact and cross-group friendships at school

We conducted one experimental intervention based on extended contact principles aimed at fostering the formation of cross-group friendships within educational settings. Italian school children took part in a school competition for the best essay on personal experiences of cross-group friendships with immigrants, to be written in small groups. This manipulation was intended to favour the exchange of personal positive cross-group experiences, thus capitalizing on the benefits of extended contact. In the control condition, participants wrote an essay on friendship, without reference to cross-group relations. Results revealed that children who took part in the intervention reported a higher number of outgroup friends 3 months later. This indirect effect was sequentially mediated by pro-contact ingroup and outgroup norms and by outgroup contact behavioural intentions. This study provides experimental evidence that interventions based on extended contact can foster cross-group friendship formation. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Sharing distress increases helping and contact intentions via social identification and inclusion of the other in the self: Children’s prosocial behaviour after an earthquake

We surveyed young children (N = 517) affected by two major earthquakes to shed light on the role of identity processes in relation to the common observation that disasters can bring survivors closer together and enhance helping amongst them. As expected, posttraumatic stress symptoms caused by the earthquake were positively associated with intentions to have contact with and help other survivors of the earthquake, these effects being sequentially mediated by inclusion of the other in the self and by one-group representation. These findings extend previous research on both the antecedents and the behavioural effects of identity-fusion. The results are also the first quantitative test of a social identity account of collective resilience in children. We argue that these findings have practical as well as theoretical significance, as they demonstrate the adaptive function of group processes in informal responses to disasters.

Negative intergroup contact and support for social policies toward the minority outgroup in the aftermath of a natural disaster

ABSTRACT In this field study, we tested whether negative intergroup contact experienced by majority (Italian) survivors in the aftermath of the earthquakes that struck Northern Italy in 2012 was associated with policy attitudes toward minority (immigrant) survivors. Results revealed a negative association between negative contact and support for social policies aimed at favoring immigrant survivors. Moreover, social policies toward immigrant survivors mediated the effect of negative contact on social policy attitudes toward the minority group as a whole. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of findings.

Americans are Barbarians or Allies? Images of Americans in the Italian Social Context

Image theory was tested in the context of Italian/American relationships. Participants were Italian students. In addition to the images of ally, barbarian, imperialist, enemy, a new image was suggested: that of father. We predicted that political orientation would affect the structural perceptions (goal compatibility, relative power, relative status), and, as a consequence, the image of Americans: right-wing participants should prefer the images of father and ally, while left-wing participants should associate Americans with barbarian. Findings generally supported our predictions; also the figure of father obtained some support. The theoretical and practical implications of results are discussed.

Inside the earthquake: Perceived disaster exposure and helping intentions among Italian and immigrant victims of the 2012 Italian earthquakes

The aim of the present research was to investigate the psychological processes driving outgroup helping intentions among ethnic groups actually involved in natural disasters. We proposed that disaster exposure would be associated with different degrees of outgroup helping intentions depending on victim’s ethnic group of belonging. Specifically, based on an integration between the common ingroup identity model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000) and the integrated threat theory (Stephan & Stephan, 2000), we hypothesized that perceived disaster exposure would be negatively associated with ethnic majorities’ altruistic intentions via increased outgroup threat, and it would be positively associated with ethnic minorities’ altruistic intentions via enhanced one-group perception. The findings of our research conducted with Italian natives (i.e., majority group) and immigrants (i.e., minority group) struck by the 2012 Northern Italian earthquakes fully supported our predictions. Implications of these findings for developing “altruistic” communities in postdisaster contexts are discussed together with the importance of considering the combined contribution of different psychological theories.

Out-group threats and distress as antecedents of common in-group identity among majority and minority group members in the aftermath of a natural disaster.

The aim of the present study was to examine the role of out-group threats in fostering one-group perceptions directly and indirectly via post-traumatic stress symptoms in the aftermath of a natural disaster. We also tested whether these relationships differ depending on the ethnic group of belonging (majority vs. minority). Participants were 589 Italians and 122 immigrants from a region strongly affected by the earthquakes that struck Northern Italy in 2012. Results revealed that among Italians threat stemming from negative out-group behaviour was associated positively with post-traumatic stress symptoms and negatively with perceptions of being a common group with immigrant survivors. Among immigrants, threat posed by the out-group for economic resources was positively associated with post-traumatic stress symptoms and, indirectly, with higher one-group perceptions.