How do we get people into contact? Predictors of intergroup contact and drivers of contact seeking

Abstract

Compared to the impressive amount of research on consequences of intergroup contact, relatively little work has been devoted to predictors of intergroup contact. Although opportunities for intergroup contact are constantly growing in modern diverse societies, these contact opportunities are not necessarily exploited. In the present review article, we describe current research on predictors of intergroup contact and drivers of contact seeking on a micro-, meso-, and macro-level. We provide an overview This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Does negative contact undermine attempts to improve intergroup relations? Deepening the understanding of negative contact and its consequences for intergroup contact research and interventions

“…Yet, while research provides the first pathways to increasing positive intergroup contact (i.e., self-expansion motives, confidence in contact, and societal norms, Kauff et al, 2020), as pointed out above, an increase in positive contact does not necessarily also result in a decrease in negative intergroup contact. As research regarding predictors of negative contact is still in its infancy, we only provide a short overview of research addressing this question.…”

“…An increase in positive contact would additionally be helpful in establishing a positive intergroup climate, which in turn additionally improves intergroup relations over and above the mere individual positive encounters (Christ et al, 2014). Still, it is of course important to go beyond a mere increase in diversity: As Kauff et al (2020) demonstrate, self-expansion motives, confidence in contact and societal norms can further increase positive intergroup contact.…”

Beyond direct contact: The theoretical and societal relevance of indirect contact for improving intergroup relations

“…More recently, a new shorter version of E-contact involving a preprogrammed outgroup member has been developed and tested, and has been found to successfully improve intergroup relations across multiple contexts involving: (i) Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland (White, Turner, et al, 2019); (ii) bias reduction against sexual minority men and women ; (iii) stigma reduction against people with schizophrenia (Maunder et al, 2019); and (iv) prejudice reduction against transgender individuals (Boccanfuso et al, in press). Reliance on technologies, such as the Internet, can help reduce psychological barriers (i.e., outgroup anxiety and avoidance), because having to approach the outgroup directly is not necessary (Kauff et al, 2021;O'Donnell et al, 2021;White et al, 2020), and overcome physical barriers of space and time, making contact available globally. As acknowledged by Dovidio et al (2017), "The Internet might be particularly well suited for optimal contact, because it creates a protected and controlled environment, and allows scheduling multiple contact experiences across time" (p. 609).…”

Intergroup contact research in the 21st century: Lessons learned and forward progress if we remain open

“…In five sections it organizes seven core review articles, four commentaries, and this Introduction. Following this article, a section on contact's functions and processes includes a review article by Kauff et al (2021) that discusses predictors of intergroup contact and drivers of intergroup contact seeking. Marinucci et al (2021) then review contemporary research on intimacy-building in intergroup contact across the lifespan.…”