Week 5 - The Upside

Question 1

What is Intergroup Contact?

Answer 1

• Refers to interactions between membrs of different social groups.
• Considered a potential avenue for reducing prejudice and improving intergroup relations.

Question 2

Allport’s Contact Hypothesis:

Answer 2

• Proposed By Allport in 1954.
• States that cotnact between groups can reduce. prejudice if certain conditions are met.

Question 3

What conditions need to be met for the Contact hypothesis?

Answer 3

• Equal status
• Cooperation
• Personal relationships
• Institutional support

Question 4

Pettigrew & Tropp’s Meta-analysis (2006):

Answer 4

• Analysed 515 studies involving 250,089 ppts.
• Found a positive overall effect size (r = .23), indicating that contact between groups does reduce prejudice.
• Effect size is larger under Allport’s optimal contact conditions.

Question 5

Decategorised Contact Model:

Answer 5

• Proposed by Brewer and Miller in 1984.
• Aimed to reduce categorisation and ingroup bias by reducing the salience of group categories.
• Some empirical support, suggesting that reducing group categorisation can reduce intergroup prejudice.

Question 6

Challenges and models for contact settings

Common Ingroup Identity Model:

Answer 6

• Proposed by Gaertner and Dovidio in 2000.
• Aims to dissolve existing group boundaries and create a new, inclusive ingroup.
• Ingroup members see each other more favourably.
• Promotes positive intergroup relations by emphasising common identity over group differences.

Question 7

Dual-Identity Model:

Answer 7

• Proposed by Gaertner et al., in 1999.
• Emphasises both common ingroup and subgroup membership.
• Suited for majority/minority settings where minoirty groups may feel uncomfortable being assimilated into a common ingroup.

Question 8

Experimental findings on Intergroup Contact:

Answer 8

• Studies by Gaertner et al., (1999) and Gonzalez & Brown., (2006) showed that cooperation and different group representations can reduce ingroup bias.
• Dual identity models were found to be effective, especially for reducing prejudice among minorities.

Question 9

Intergroup Contact in the Field:

Answer 9

• Challenges in extracting clear data in field studies.
• Longitudinal studies help establish casual relationships between contact and prejudice.
• Binder et al., (2009) and Swart et al., (2011) highligh complex effects of contact on prejudice, especially among minoirty groups.

Question 10

Interventions in the Classroom:

Answer 10

• Story-telling interventions designed to improve attitudes towards outgroups.
• Extended contact hypothesis suggests that narratives of cross group friendships can reduce prejudice.
• Small-scale interventions in classrooms have shown promise in improving intergroup relations.

Question 11

Prosocial behaviour:

Answer 11

Refers to actions intended to benefit others, often without regard for personal gain.