“…The mere prospect of an intergroup exchange often triggers debilitating cognitions ( Plant, Butz, & Tartakovsky, ) and expectations of adverse outcomes (Mallett, Wilson, & Gilbert, ), including expectations of communication uncertainty (Plant & Devine, ), interpersonal rejection (Mendoza‐Denton, Pietrzak, & Downey, ), or indifference (Al Ramiah et al, ; Shelton & Richeson, ), impending threats to cherished values (Stephan & Stephan, ) or even physical threats (Mallan, Sax, & Lipp, ; for discussions of this literature's complexities, see Greenland, Xenias, & Maio, ; Paolini, Harris, et al, ; Stephan, ). As long as these anxieties and negative expectations readily come to mind when faced with realistic opportunities for contact, most people will opt to avoid contact.…”