Although prominent political agendas have placed a great deal of importance on building trust in postconflict areas, there has been a lack of empirical research on its role in areas of intergroup conflict. The authors conducted two studies to examine the relationship between trust and intergroup behavioral tendencies-and the potential for intergroup contact to build trust in Northern Ireland. Study 1 showed that outgroup trust mediates the impact of intergroup contact on behavioral tendencies toward the outgroup. Study 2 revealed the importance of trusting the outgroup over simply liking the outgroup; establishing outgroup trust is crucial, as trust is a stronger predictor of behavioral tendencies toward the outgroup than positive attitudes are. Results also demonstrated two mechanisms for increasing outgroup trust-through both direct and extended intergroup contact. These studies further our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying the formation of intergroup trust and behavior in areas of conflict.

Although prejudice researchers have mainly focused their attention on changing attitudes toward outgroups, other outcome variables may also be important. In post-conflict reconciliation, intergroup forgiveness may play a crucial role in helping groups in conflict put the atrocities of the past behind them (Cairns, Tam, Hewstone, & Niens, 2005). Two studies showed that both the specific intergroup emotion of anger and infrahumanization (the attribution of more human emotions to the ingroup than to the outgroup) predicted decreased intergroup forgiveness in Northern Ireland. Results further revealed intergroup contact as a potential means of reducing anger toward the outgroup and improving attitudes toward them. This research integrated prior interpersonal theory with intergroup literature to examine the concept of intergroup forgiveness and its predictors. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for reconciliation in conflict societies

We tested a model which considered individual-level (intergroup anxiety) and group-level (perceived realistic and symbolic threats to the in-group) threats as simultaneous mediators in the relationship between the quantity and quality of cross-community contact and intergroup attitudes (Study 1, N=166) and trust (Study 2, N=163) in Northern Ireland. The studies tested the hypothesis that the strength of group-identification moderates the importance of individual- vs. group-level threats as predictors of attitudes and trust and as mediators of contact effects. Both anxiety and symbolic threat, but not realistic threat, emerged as predictors of the criterion variables and mediated contact effects. Our results provide support for the moderating role of identification and suggest that while symbolic threat predicts attitudes and trust for high, but not low identifiers, anxiety is a somewhat more important predictor for low than for high identifiers. We discuss these results against the background of current intergroup relations in Northern Ireland.

This study investigated contact and ageism on both the implicit and the explicit level. We examined the role of grandparent–grandchild communication (in terms of self-disclosure) and its relations to anxiety and empathy in improving intergenerational attitudes. Analyses revealed that: (1) quantity and quality of contact with older people (other than grandparents) predict higher levels of self-disclosure (to one's grandparent); (2) quantity (but not quality) of contact with older people is associated with more favorable implicit associations with them, while quality of contact is associated with more favorable explicit attitudes; and (3) higher levels of self-disclosure to grandparents are associated with empathy and reduced anxiety, which in turn are associated with more positive explicit attitudes toward older adults. We explain our findings in light of the environmental associations model (Karpinsky & Hilton, 2001)—that quantity of contact, or mere exposure to older people, drives the Implicit Association Test effect. The model sheds light on the mediational roles of interpersonal variables (self-disclosure, anxiety, and empathy with a grandparent) in intergenerational contact.

Even after a conflict has formally ended, there is still a need for postconflict reconciliation and the building of mutual forgiveness and trust between communities.