Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Contact Hypothesis George Allport 1954 - Coggle Diagram
Contact Hypothesis
George Allport 1954
Prejudice can be diminished when intergroup contact includes…
- Equal status:
Members of both groups must have similar backgrounds, qualities and characteries. Differences in academic backgrounds, wealth, skill or experiences can influence perceptions of prestige and rank in groups
- Common goals:
Members must work on a problem/task collectively as a common goal, pooling their efforts and resources
- Intergroup Cooperation:
Must work together without competition
- Support of authorities, law or customs:
Supports the contact, encouraging friendly, helpful, egalitarian attitudes and condemn ingroup-outgroup comparisons
Theory:
Positive interaction between members of different groups RESULTS IN a reduction in prejudice (preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience)
Minimises stereotyping and discrimination
Can be applied to race, disability, women, LGBTQI+, any prejudiced group
Prejudice arises from segregation of races/groups
As a result, generalisation and oversimplification made about an entire group of people based on incomplete or mistaken information can arise
Rothbart and John (1985) describes this belief change as “
an example of general cognitive process by which attributes of category members modify category attributes”
How can generalisations be modified?
An individual’s beliefs can be modified by coming into contact with a culturally distinct category member > modifying/elaborating the beliefs about the category as a whole
Psychological processes involved in intergroup contact
• Facilitates learning about the outgroup > new outgroup knowledge
• Reduce the fear and anxiety about interacting with outgroups > reduce negative evaluations of outgroup
• Increase people’s ability to take the perspective of the outgroup > empathise with their concerns
Many studies with positive results for intergroup contact reducing prejudice
EG. White athletes who played team sports reported less prejudice than athletes who played individual sports
EG. College students who had pleasant interactions with a homosexual tend to generalize from that experience and accept homosexuals as a group.
EG. People living in regions in Netherlands with high numbers of Muslims expressed lesser perceived threats. Higher contacts with Muslim colleagues directly reduce anti-Muslin attitudes
Why does prejudice CONTINUE? Because it is
quite difficult to practice DIRECT intergroup contact within real life
In many countries, racial + religious groups are often residentially, educationally or occupationally segregated > limits opportunity for direct contact
INDIRECT INTERGROUP CONTACT
Extended contact hypothesis
Research has demonstrated that individuals who report knowledge that an ingroup member has an outgroup friend typically report more positive group attitudes
The ingroup partner provides an exemplar for positive in-group norms towards the out-group, lessen feelings of anxiety about interactions with the out-group and provide a more accurate representation of the out-group
Vicarious contact hypothesis
Simply observing an ingroup member interact with an outgroup member positively > successful cross-group contact improves intergroup relations
Media counteracts this from occuring
EG. UK study found that most coverage of Muslims in British news outlets has a negative slant
Australian news outlets consistently discussing African gangs (grand scheme of things there aren't really that many gangs, in fact there are other imminent threats than African gangs)
What themes can this relate to?
• Radicalism –
people can become radicalised through the presence of widespread prejudice towards their particular ethnic/religious group or gender, among many other types of groups. This can ignite resentment within these minority groups towards the one’s perpetrating prejudice igniting radicalisation
• War –
The colossal effects of prejudice can result in wars and the death of millions of people. It would be remiss to ignore the analysis of prejudice in relation to war, how it comes about etc.
• Climate Change –
The effects of prejudice are magnified within the adverse effects of climate change
o Minorities tend to live in places that are worst hit by the impacts of climate change – their poverty exacerbates their vulnerability
o ity.
• Healing –
Healing and overcoming adversity of prejudiced groups is difficult to achieve through the widespread prejudice we are seeing today
• Family –
same sex families are becoming more common and normalised today yet prejudice towards them still exists and can be explored through contact hypothesis
o With the increasing number of same-sex parented families worldwide, in spite of a generalized lack of appropriate social and legal protection, the issue of attitudes toward gay and lesbian parents gains special relevance
o Positive contact events, or moreover simply elevating the voices of same sex families and their personal experiences related to their sexual orientation or gender identity promotes positive affect and empathy with the struggles and needs of LGBTQI+ individuals
• Sport –
interactions between people of diverse groups can facilitate the reduction of prejudice
• Workplace relationships -
interactions between people of diverse groups can facilitate the reduction of prejudice
• Multiculturalism –
Multiculturalism can expand the opportunity for positive contact events between members of diverse groups
o Australia has become increasingly multiethnic. This development has made the acceptance of cultural differences a vital issue
• Education –
opportunity hoarding and presence of privatisation of education through capitalism affects prejudice and facilitates the dearth of positive contact events between members of diverse groups (race, sexuality etc)
• Media –
o EG. Positive media portrayals of intergroup interactions on television and radio potential to reduce the prejudice of millions of viewers + listeners
o But this doesn’t occur these days, often presents Blacks and criminality synonymously (racialisation of crime) contributes to negative
o Blacks are perceived to be inextricably linked to crime
o Muslims and terrorism are spoken about synonymously
o The growth of prejudice against members of these groups and the inclination for some to stereotype can be analysed through the vicarious contact hypothesis
Hollywood/entertainment
Representation in Hollywood – they are stereotyped in movies, doing harm to the community (Blacks are often never main role, often the poor/bad guy character, enither are women)
Important psychological intervention to promote social change