Does contact reduce prejudice or does prejudice reduce contact? A longitudinal test of the contact hypothesis among majority and minority groups in three european countries.

Abstract

A widely researched panacea for reducing intergroup prejudice is the contact hypothesis. However, few longitudinal studies can shed light on the direction of causal processes: from contact to prejudice reduction (contact effects) or from prejudice to contact reduction (prejudice effects). The authors conducted a longitudinal field survey in Germany, Belgium, and England with school students. The sample comprised members of both ethnic minorities (n = 512) and ethnic majorities (n = 1,143). Path analyses yielded both lagged contact effects and prejudice effects: Contact reduced prejudice, but prejudice also reduced contact. Furthermore, contact effects were negligible for minority members. These effects were obtained for 2 indicators of prejudice: negative intergroup emotions and desire for social distance. For both majority and minority members, contact effects on negative emotions were stronger when outgroup contacts were perceived as being typical of their group. Contact effects were also mediated by intergroup anxiety. This mediating mechanism was impaired for minority members because of a weakened effect of anxiety on desire for social distance. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Fitting the mould: the role of employer perceptions in immigrant recruitment decision-making

“…This suggests that candidate evaluations are influenced not only by their 'foreignness', but by the exposure that the decision maker has had to cultural diversity. These findings also support Binder et al's (2009) suggestion that contact between minority and majority groups acts to reduce prejudice within majority group members (Binder et al, 2009). …”

“…Conversely, prejudice acts to reduce contact (Binder et al, 2009), suggesting that employers who hold prejudicial beliefs against visible migrants are likely to avoid contact with them, preventing any opportunity for such beliefs to be reduced.…”

Contextual effect of positive intergroup contact on outgroup prejudice

“…In study 2b, on the within level, the significant longitudinal effect of time 1 prejudice on time 2 contact, together with the absence of a longitudinal effect from contact to prejudice, supports a pattern of self-selection (prejudice leads to contact). We have no ready explanation for this unpredicted result, but selection effects have been found in prior research (28). However, this result does not undermine our longitudinal demonstration of the contextual effect, an effect that cannot be explained with selection bias.…”

Heritage Acculturation Is Associated With Contextual Factors at Four Different Levels of Proximity

“…Supporting this possibility, longitudinal studies focusing on initial stages of intergroup relations and intergroup contact show that the attitude to contact effect is at least as strong or stronger than the reverse effect (Eller et al, 2003;Levin et al, 2003). In contrast, examinations of intergroup relations that have been ongoing for a long time find stronger evidence for the contact to attitude effect (e.g., Binder et al, 2009;Levin et al, 2003). Accurately studying the development of this long-term reciprocal influence presents methodological difficulties as it would involve a high frequency of measurement over a very long time.…”