Improving intergroup relations with extended and vicarious forms of indirect contact

Abstract

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

Strengthening Purity: Moral Purity as a Mediator of Direct and Extended Cross-Group Friendships on Sexual Prejudice

“…Indeed, the mere knowledge that an ingroup member has a close relationship with an outgroup member can reduce prejudice (i.e., extended contact; Wright, Aron, Mclaughlin-Volpe, & Ropp, 1997; see also Dovidio, Eller, & Hewstone, 2011). A recent review uncovering more than 90 studies revealed that extended contact has widespread effects spanning across several outcome variables, target-groups, contexts and age-groups, thus supporting its role as an effective strategy to reduce prejudice (Vezzali, Hewstone, Capozza, Giovannini, & Wölfer, 2014). Notably, both direct (Fingerhut, 2012;Heinze & Horn, 2009;Lemm, 2006;West & Hewstone, 2012) and extended (Capozza, Falvo, Trifiletti, & Pagani, 2014;Hodson, Harry, & Mitchell, 2009;Mereish & Poteat, in press;Sharp, Voci, & Hewstone, 2011) contact have been shown to be effective means to improve attitudes towards homosexuals.…”

“…In particular, research on direct contact has mostly focused on affective mediators such intergroup anxiety (see Brown & Hewstone, 2005;Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008), whereas research on extended contact has mainly considered cognitive mediators such as ingroup and outgroup norms (see Vezzali et al, 2014). A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t 5 More recently, it has been shown that morality has a leading role in shaping outgroup impressions (for a review, see Brambilla & Leach, 2014).…”

The dynamics of interminority extended contact: The role of affective and cognitive mediators.

“…This study is also among the first (see Vezzali et al, 2014) The two immigrant groups differ in social status in Finnish society and these differences are reflected mostly in their position in the labour market and attitudes towards these groups among majority Finns. In 2013, the unemployment rate among Russian immigrants (15 %) was twice as high as among Estonian immigrants (8 %) and three times higher than among majority Finns (5 %) (Statistics Finland, 2014).…”

“…To the best of our knowledge, our studies are the first to test whether interminority extended contact is associated with more positive attitudes towards other minority groups. Moreover, we aimed at detecting whether the aforementioned relationship is mediated by affective (outgroup empathy; Study 1, and outgroup trust; Study 2) and cognitive (ingroup norm; Study 2) processes, as suggested by previous INTERMINORITY EXTENDED CONTACT 4 research among majorities and minorities (for a review, see Vezzali, Hewstone, Capozza, Giovannini, & Wölfer, 2014).…”

When Contact Is Not Enough: Affecting First Year Medical Students’ Image towards Older Persons

“…These efforts can be seen as ways to make the unfamiliar familiar and line up with the intergroup contact hypothesis[9]. Deliberate interpersonal contact has long been one of the most influential strategies for improving relations between groups that are unfamiliar with each other[10] and an effective way to reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members[11]. Scholars have proposed that such a positive effect may only be expected under appropriate conditions[12,13] including sufficient knowledge, equal status between groups, interdependent goals, intergroup cooperation, personal and positive contact, an instilment of the positive experience in attitudes towards the other group, and the support of the involved institutions and authorities [9,14].…”