Imagined Intergroup Contact and Common Ingroup Identity

Abstract

We conducted two studies involving two different age groups (elementary school children and adults) aimed at integrating imagined contact and common ingroup identity models. In the first study, Italian elementary school children were asked to imagine interacting with an unknown immigrant peer as members of a common group. Results revealed that common ingroup imagined contact, relative to a control condition, improved outgroup helping intentions assessed one week and two weeks after the intervention. In the second study, common ingroup imagined contact led Italian university students to display higher intentions to have contact with immigrants compared to control conditions. In conclusion, results from both studies demonstrate that imagining an intergroup interaction as members of the same group strengthens the effects of imagined contact. These findings point to the importance of combining the common ingroup identity model and the imagined contact theory in order to increase the potentiality of prejudice reduction interventions.Keywords: imagined intergroup contact, common ingroup identity, intergroup relations, prejudice reduction, behavioral intentions. IMAGINED CONTACT AND COMMON INGROUP IDENTITY 5Research over the past 60 years has convincingly demonstrated that positive contact between members of different groups is a powerful strategy to reduce prejudice (Hodson & Hewstone, 2013). There is also evidence that positive contact is especially effective when it is structured so that ingroup and outgroup members perceive themselves as belonging to a common superordinate group, instead of completely separate and distinct groups (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000). However, intervention strategies based on direct intergroup contact can be anxiety arousing and difficult to implement due to practical constraints. A highly flexible and easily implemented indirect contact strategy which can overcome these difficulties and which has been successful at reducing prejudice is imagined contact. According to Crisp and collaborators (for reviews, see Crisp, Husnu, Meleady, Stathi, & Turner, 2010;Crisp & Turner, 2009; for a meta-analysis, see Miles & Crisp, 2014), the mental simulation of positive intergroup contact is an effective way to improve relations between groups. In the two studies reported herein, we aim to explore the utility of integrating the common ingroup identity model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000) with the imagined contact theory (Crisp & Turner, 2009) on reducing intergroup bias. Our expectation is that common ingroup imagined contact, which combines imagined contact with principles derived from the common ingroup identity model, will have stronger effects than both standard imagined contact and classic control conditions used in imagined contact research. A further aim is to shed light on the processes underlying the effects of common ingroup imagined contact. Hypotheses will be tested both among young children (Study 1) and adults (Study 2), in order to examine the generalizability of the effects and the utili...

Feeling like a group after a natural disaster: Common ingroup identity and relations with outgroup victims among majority and minority young children

“…We used three items, adapted from Vezzali et al . (): ‘If, when you are at school, an immigrant [Italian] child who is victim of the earthquake as you are has problems in writing a text, do you help him/her?’; ‘If, when you are at school, an immigrant [Italian] child who is victim of the earthquake as you are has problems in doing mathematics, do you help him/her?’; ‘If, when you are at school, an immigrant [Italian] child who is victim of the earthquake as you are has lost a book, do you help him/her to find it?’. A 4‐step response scale was used (1 = absolutely not ; 4 = absolutely yes ).…”

“…We used three items, adapted from Vezzali et al (2015): 'If, when you are at school, an immigrant [Italian] child who is victim of the earthquake as you are has problems in writing a text, do you help him/her? '; 'If, when you are at school, an immigrant [Italian] child who is victim of the earthquake as you are has problems in doing mathematics, do you help him/her?…”

“…Guerra et al (2010) experimentally manipulated the endorsement of group representations among majority (European-Portuguese) and minority (African-Portuguese) elementary school children. Results showed that bias in resource allocations and competence ratings towards outgroup classmates was lower when a superordinate identity was salient, compared to when children perceived to belong to distinct groups (for a similar intervention, see Guerra et al, 2013; for evidence supporting the CIIM among young children in the context of an imagined intergroup interaction, see Vezzali et al, 2015).…”

Indirect contact and prejudice reduction: limits and possibilities

“…Most research has examined the effects immediately after the imagined contact intervention and, as noted, these effects are relatively small [41**], raising the question as to whether the improvements are just short-term reactions to the experimental materials rather than substantive changes to intergroup bias [39]. However, longitudinal effects of imagined contact have been observed with both school and university students [28, [43][44][45]. For example, foreign exchange students who imagined contact with a host country national a month before leaving their home country showed positive intergroup attitudes and behaviors towards the host country up to six months after returning home [43].…”

Social Contact Theories to Regulate Intergroup Relations: Intergroup, Extended, Imagined Contact

“…Tutumlardaki bu değişim örtük ölçümlerde , ve ikincil aktarım etkisi (temas kurulan grup dışındaki gruplara ilişkin tutum değişimi) ile birlikte bulunmuştur (Harwood, Paolini, Joyce, Rubin ve Arroyo, 2010). Ayrıca hayali temas ve tutum değişimi arasındaki ilişkinin, dış grup üyelerini yeni bir kategori geliştirme sebebiyle iç gruba dahil etme (ör., yapılacak bir yarışmada dış grup üyeleriyle aynı takımda olmak) değişkeni ile arttırılabileceği bulunmuştur (Vezzali, Stathi, Crisp, Giovannini, Capozza ve Gaertner, 2015). Son olarak, hayali temas etkisinin bir ay sonraki ölçümde halen devam ettiği bulunmuştur (Küçükkömürler, 2013).…”