Imagining intergroup contact promotes projection to outgroups

Question

1. What are the contributions in this paper?

2. What is the effect of imagined contact on bias?

3. What is the role of national identification in determining the effects of imagined intergroup contact?

4. What is the effect of positive imagined contact on bias?

Accepted Answer

Three studies investigated the conditions under which imagining intergroup contact would lead to greater projection of positive traits to outgroups.. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for a developing model of imagined contact effects.. These findings suggest that the social cognitive consequences of imagined contact are most favorable for intergroup relations when the personal self, but not social self, is salient.

Accepted Answer

Imagined contact, however, can act as an anxiety-buffer mechanism by introducing people gradually to interactions with outgroups.

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It was shown that national identification can play a critical moderating role in determining the effects of imagined intergroup contact.

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Positive imagined contact could compliment other bias-reduction methods by serving as a preparatory measure, laying the foundations and providing optimal conditions for successful actual future contact.

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The use of a wide range of control conditions provides increasing confidence in the unique benefits of mentally simulating positive contact experiences with outgroupers, and provides a clear guide for successful implementation in future studies.

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Given the increasingly large number of International students in British Universities (Bohm, Follari, Hewett, Jones, Kemp, Meares, et al. 2004), the authors highlight the importance of identifying potential problems that arise from this new social reality for both the newcomers and the host institutions.

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With respect to shedding some light to the conditions that enhance or inhibit the effects of imagined contact the authors investigated three conditions: Majority and minority group contexts, ingroup identification and personal self salience.

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the benefits of imagined contact can extend, and compliment, those of directcontact by reducing pre-contact anxiety.

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The pattern of significance across these three contrasts will offer support for their hypothesis that majorities who imagine positive contact will project to a greater extent than all other conditions.

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Research on intergroup contact has shown that similarity is positively related to outgroup attitudes, as well as both direct contact (Eller & Abrams, 2003) and indirect contact (Wright et al., 1997).

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More precisely, the authors expect that higher identifiers will project less under the positive imagined contact compared to lower identifiers.

Accepted Answer

In the same way, imagining contact with an outgroup may act as a psychological buffer of anxiety, which can progressively lead to improved outgroup attitudes.

Imagining intergroup contact promotes projection to outgroups

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Most frequently asked questions

1. What are the contributions in this paper?

2. What is the effect of imagined contact on bias?

3. What is the role of national identification in determining the effects of imagined intergroup contact?

4. What is the effect of positive imagined contact on bias?

5. What is the main argument for the use of a wide range of control conditions?

6. What is the importance of identifying potential problems that arise from this new social reality?

7. What conditions are effective in enhancing or inhibiting the effects of imagined contact?

8. What is the effect of the imagined contact on the anxiety of the students?

9. What is the pattern of significance across these contrasts?

10. What is the role of similarity in reducing prejudice?

11. What is the effect of the positive imagined contact on higher identifiers?

12. What is the role of imagining contact in psychological therapy?

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Citations

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Imagined disclosure of a close other’s mental health status: a strategy for reducing stigma by association

Contact and Explicit and Implicit Bias Towards Latinos/as

Imagine a Better World: Two Studies of Imagined Intergroup Contact

Crossing the divide: promoting confidence in contact in a diverse world

References

Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions

Handbook of social psychology

An integrative theory of intergroup conflict

The Social psychology of intergroup relations

Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory.

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