Imagining intergroup contact promotes projection to outgroups

Abstract

Three studies investigated the conditions under which imagining intergroup contact would lead to greater projection of positive traits to outgroups. In Experiment 1 (Mexico) imagined contact predicted greater self-outgroup positive trait overlap for majority but not minority ethnic groups. In Experiment 2 (UK) imagined contact led to greater projection of positive traits to the outgroup for lower compared to higher identifiers. In Experiment 3 (UK) imagined contact led to greater projection of positive traits to the outgroup when the self was salient compared to when the outgroup was salient. These findings suggest that the social cognitive consequences of imagined contact are most favorable for intergroup relations when the personal self, but not social self, is salient. We discuss the implications of these findings for a developing model of imagined contact effects

Anticipated cooperation vs. competition moderates interpersonal projection

“…Contrary to Stathi and Crisp (2008) who found projection mainly on positive traits, we found that if projection occurs more in cooperation than in competition, this is the case for both positive and negative traits.…”

“…Cooperation, Competition and Interpersonal Projection 17 outgroup projection had already shown that perceived intergroup interdependence moderates projection (Riketta & Sacramento, 2008) and that positive ingroup-outgroup contacts increase outgroup projection (Stathi & Crisp, 2008). The current experiments extend this work to the interpersonal level.…”

“…Besides the absence of comparative information about the target, a second distinctive feature of the current experiments is that we asked participants to ascribe not only positive but also negative personality traits onto the target person (Stathi & Crisp, 2008). Because general evaluative tendencies can produce positive or negative correlation between trait ratings independent of social projection (Otten & Wentura, 2001), we controlled for valence in these studies.…”

Indirect contact and prejudice reduction: limits and possibilities

“…Despite these encouraging findings, the imagined contact field still faces challenges: some have been unable to replicate the imagined contact effects [48][49][50][51]; others have found limited effects of imagined contact among minority group members [52]; it is not clear how long the effects last for adults or how imagined contact is most effectively combined with other forms of contact; and, as with other contact interventions [23*], effect sizes are typically small.…”

Prejudice reduction in an educational setting. Practical outcomes from theoretical approaches

“…Heterosexuals who imagined talking to a homosexual on a train subsequently evaluated homosexuals in general more positively and stereotyped them less than participants who imagined a neutral scene. Research has also shown that positive imagined contact leads to projecting positive traits to the target outgroup (Stathi, Crisp, 2008). Nonetheless, this technique has certain limitations.…”