What is prejudice? Can group contact lead to the reduction in prejudice?

      Prejudice is a learned negative attitude toward a category of people in a society; from a social psychological perspective, this bias always acts in combination with cognitive, affective and behavioral elements (Paluck & Green, 2009). As a social phenomenon, prejudice plays a role in causing inequalities in practices of health, economics and education; it can also lead to terrorism and mass murder (Sternberg 2003). Its pervasive negative impact on the society has led to extensive social psychological research and studies, and how to reduce prejudice has become an urgent research issue for many social scientists. Group contact is one of the possible approaches to lessen prejudice, and Allport’s Contact Hypothesis is a classic theory of intergroup contact (Paluck & Green, 2009). In an effort to reduce prejudice between groups, extensive research have been conducted to support Allport’s Contact Hypothesis to demonstrate the positive outcomes of intergroup contact; other research have been produced to indicate the inefficiency of group contact; more potential factors have been suggested to expand the Contact Hypothesis theory, and on its cognitive nature, the group contact form-imagined contact-will be recommended as a new research area to challenge the conventional group contact form for the improvement of intergroup relations.  

       Social psychologists have conducted intensive research on interventions for reducing prejudice through various methods, such as, observation, laboratory, and field experiment. Group contact is one of the strategies, and it is also called “Intergroup Approach” (Paluck & Green, 2009).  Social scientists began to theorise the intergroup approach after World War II in what was called the Human Relations Movement (Watson, 1947, as cited in Pettigrew 1998). This movement had focused on the main reason of the failure of intergroup contact was ignorance, while how to improve group relations through contact had not been demonstrated (Pettigrew& Tropp, 2000). In 1954, social psychologist Gordon Allport proposed a “Contact Hypothesis”, which emphasized that under the four conditions-equal social statuses, common goals, group cooperation and authority support-interaction between two groups can lead to reduction of prejudice (Allport, 1954, as cited in Pettigrew, 1998). Allport’s “Group Hypothesis” is considered as a classic theory for reducing prejudice in the social psychological field (Pettigrew, 1998).

      Over the last half century, Contact Hypothesis has been broadly used in experimental research conducted both in the laboratory and the field, providing extensive evidence to support its effectiveness as a strategy for reducing prejudice (Paluck & Green, 2009). One of the most compelling laboratory studies is Cook’s (1971) railroad study (Paluck & Green). In the study, a small number of racially prejudiced young white adults from boarder southern colleges in U.S. were employed to participate in a management task in a railroad company with some black and white co-workers, and they knew they had black co-workers only after they began work. Allport’s four positive conditions were provided during a month- long working period (Cook, 1971).  The study produced a positive result in that the participants gained highly positive impressions of their black coworker. Less racially prejudiced attitudes were expressed by participants in a questionnaire even a month later (Cook, 1971). Paluck and Green (2009) comment that the study is a recommendable laboratory experiment conducted in an effective experimental manner with a realistic environment. However, as a laboratory experiment, this study

only focused on the single task established in a limited team environment (Paluck & Green, 2009).

      The findings from laboratory research are not always applicable in a wide context, thus there is a need for more field experimentation on the practices of reducing prejudice (Miller & Harrington, 1990, as cited in Paluck & Green, 2009). One recent field study was conducted in 2008 by Green and Wong with the Outward Bound camping expedition organization. In a three weeks trip, fifty-four white teenagers were randomly allocated to either an all white group or a mixed group. Participants interacted with their group members under Allport’s four contact conditions through learning survival skills. In a blind telephone survey conducted one month after the trip, white teens in the mixed trip group showed notably less prejudice attitude towards blacks and gays compared to the all write group members.  This study thus suggested that under optimal situations, group contact can lead to the reduction of prejudice (Green& Wong, 2008, as cited in Palick & Green, 2009). However, there are limitations of the study including: small sample size, insufficient behavioral outcome measurements, and limited follow-up (Paluck & Green, 2009).

      There is much evidence to demonstrate that group contact can lead to the reduction of prejudice under Allport’s four positive conditions. However, optimal circumstances could rarely occur in the real life (Amir, 1969), and some research indicates that unfavorable situations may cause group anxiety and thus raise the prejudice. An early field study- the Alabama Study, which was conducted by Sims & Patrick in 1936, provides strong evidence for that (Pettigrew, 1998). The study revealed that racial prejudice attitudes towards blacks increased in the 115 white college students from the North of the US enrolled Psychology at the University of Alabama, with each year spent in the South (Sims& Patrick, 1936). Similarly, another study suggested that white workers in London public transportation showed racial discrimination towards relocated black workers under unfavorable conditions (Brooks, 1975, as cited in Pettigrew, 1998).  These two studies demonstrate that group contact without the four optimal conditions may not lead to reduction of prejudice, but increase prejudice. Interestingly Allport’s Hypothesis was inspired by the Alabama study (Pettigrew, 1998).

      Even though various studies have confirmed that group contact can lead to success in reducing prejudice under the four optimal conditions, recent studies have argued that there still are some specific factors that need to be concerned under a group contact setting.  Pettigrew (1998) suggests that positive group contact require time to develop the intergoup relations. He defines this as the “Longitudinal Model” of intergroup contact. The Longitudinal emphasizes that a positive group contact needs to experience a continuous time period, and the outcomes are different in different period (Pettigrew, 1998). One case study has supported this model. In this study, A Southwestern Group in US, this had 21 interracial and intercultural members met monthly over six years to discuss racial, cultural and ethical issues through dialogues. The results suggested that there were a significant positive relation between group members remaining in contact after the six years, compared with others who did not (Rodenborg & Huyhn, 2006). This study therefore revealed that extended intergroup contact is more effective to improve intergroup relations than short-term intergroup contact.

      Another specific factor-cross-group friendship-is a potential situational element for positive intergroup contact outcomes (Pettigrew, 1998). This recalled the early group contact literature by Amir (1969), who argued intimate intergroup contact is more effective than casual relations between groups. A survey was performed in 1988 in Western Europe which collected the convincing data to support this factor (Pettigrew & Meertens 1995, as cited in Pettigrew, 1998). The research was conducted in 7 European countries within 3800 majority group members. The attitudes towards the major minority groups in their countries and whether they had friends with outgroup members were tested. The data discovered that participants who had intergroup friends showed significantly lesser prejudiced attitudes towards their intergroup members than those who did not. This finding showed that as an effective factor to reduce prejudice, friendship potential with Allport’s four conditions can stimulate the optimal contact and lead to the reduction in prejudice.

     Group contact has been largely defined as face-to face contact as an effective strategy for reducing prejudice, however, this traditional form of contact only focuses on  the physical level with full awareness. As a negative attitude, prejudice can be rooted in individual cognitive process, and negative biases may occur spontaneously and unconsciously ( Dovidio & Gaertner, 1999). Therefore, the role of the automatic and unconscious process should be considered in the reduction of prejudice (Dovidio & Gaertner, 1999).Crisp and Turner (2009) proposed that the intergroup relations can be improved by creating a positive mental image of outgroup members. Mentally simulate a positive picture of group contact is an individual-oriented technique to assist intergroup members to understand the cognitive nature of prejudice (Dovidio & Gaertner, 1999). However, the disadvantages had also been described.

      Prejudice as a social issue has raised the attention of scholars and policymakers. Pressing problems, such as discrimination, inequality and violence have emerged broadly in every field of society. Group contact has become a promising strategy to reduce prejudice. Allport’s “Contact Hypothesis” theory is now firmly established as one of the most effective approaches in the psychological field to develop intergroup relations (Dixon, Durrheim & Tredoux, 2005). Allport asserted that group contact can diminish intergroup prejudice under four optimal situations: equal social statues, common goals, cooperation and authority support (Allport, 1954). Intensive research and studies have been carried out in the psychological field through diverse methodologies to support Allport’s Contact Hypothesis. More recent studies, such as those by Pettigrew, have been conducted to extend and reformulate the original theory proposed by Allport. With the facilitating   four optimal conditions, the cross-friendships and the constant period can be potential factors in the improvement of the intergroup relations (Pettigrew, 1998). In its cognitive form, prejudice is continuously influencing society in a subtle way, imagining positive contact is an emerging field of research ( Dovidio& Gaertner, 1999). However, further research need to be conducted to establish if such mental visualization exerts an influence on real behaviour.

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