Intergroup Contact and Prejudice Toward Immigrants in Italy: The Mediational Role of Anxiety and the Moderational Role of Group Salience

Abstract

Two studies investigated intergroup contact with immigrants in Italy. In Study 1 (N = 310 students) contact had direct positive effects on perceived out-group variability and out-group attitude, and a direct negative effect on subtle prejudice; the last two effects were mediated by intergroup anxiety. Contact also had a greater effect on reduced anxiety and improved out-group perception and evaluation when group salience was high. In Study 2 (N = 94 hospital workers) contact at work had direct effects on out-group attitudes and rights for immigrants, and an effect on attitudes toward ethnic coworkers that was mediated by intergroup anxiety at work. The effects of contact were again moderated by group salience. These findings show that the combination of positive contact with individuals from the out-group and group salience is effective in improving intergroup relations, and often does so via reduced anxiety.

Keywords

anxiety group salience intergroup contact mediation moderation prejudice reduction

References

Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Bagozzi, R. P. , & Heatherton, T. F. (1994). A general approach for representing multifaceted personality constructs: Application to state self-esteem. Structural Equation Modeling, 1, 35-67.

Baron, R. , & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173-1182.

Batson, C. D. , Polycarpou, P. , Harmon-Jones, E. , Imhoff, H. J. , Mitchener, E. C. , Bednar, L. L. et al. (1997). Empathy and attitudes: Can feelings for a member of a stigmatized group improve feelings toward the group? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 105-118.

Bettencourt, B. A. , Brewer, M. B. , Rogers-Croak, M. , & Miller, N. (1992). Cooperation and the reduction of intergroup bias: The role of reward structure and social orientation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 28, 301-319.

Bettencourt, B. A. , Charlton, K. , & Kernahan, C. (1997). Numerical representation of groups in co-operative settings: Social orientation effects on in-group bias. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 33, 630-659.

Brewer, M. B. (1997). The social psychology of intergroup relations: Can research inform practice? Journal of Social Issues, 53, 197-211.

Brewer, M. B. (2001). Ingroup identification and intergroup conflict: When does ingroup love become outgroup hate? In R. Ashmore , L. Jussim , & D. Wilder (Eds.), Social identity, intergroup conflict, and conflict reduction (pp. 17-41). New York: Oxford University Press.

Brewer, M. B. , & Gaertner, S. L. (2001). Toward reduction of prejudice: Intergroup contact and social categorization. In R. Brown & S. L. Gaertner (Eds.), Intergroup processes: Blackwell handbook of social psychology (pp. 451-472). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

10.

Brewer, M. B. , & Miller, N. (1988). Contact and cooperation: When do they work? In P. Katz & D. Taylor (Eds.), Eliminating racism: Profiles in controversy (pp. 315-326). New York: Plenum Press.

11.

Brown, R. , Maras, P. , Masser, B. , Vivian, J. , & Hewstone, M. (2001). Life on the ocean wave: Testing some intergroup hypotheses in a naturalistic setting. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 4, 81-97.

12.

Brown, R. , Vivian, J. , & Hewstone, M. (1999). Changing attitudes through intergroup contact: The effects of group membership salience. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 741-764.

13.

Desforges, D. M. , Lord, C. G. , Ramsey, S. L. , Mason, J. A. , Van Leeuwen, M. D. , West, S. C. et al. (1991). Effects of cooperative contact on changing negative attitudes toward stigmatized social groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 531-544.

14.

Dovidio, J. F. , Gaertner, S. L. & Kafati, G. (2000). Group identity and intergroup relations: The common ingroup identity model. In S. Thye , E. J. Lawler , M. Macy , & H. Walker , (Eds.), Advances in group processes (Vol. 17, pp. 1-35). Stamford, CT: JAI Press.

15.

Ensari, N. , & Miller, N. (2002). The out-group must not be so bad after all: The effects of disclosure, typicality, and salience on intergroup bias. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 319-329.

16.

Finlay, K. , & Stephan, W. G. (2000). Improving intergroup relations: The effects of empathy on racial attitudes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 1720-1737.

17.

Fiske, S. T. , & Ruscher, J. (1993). Negative interdependence and prejudice: Whence the affect? In D. M. Mackie & D. L. Hamilton (Eds.), Affect, cognition, and stereotyping (pp. 239-268). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

18.

Gaertner, S. L. , & Dovidio, J. F. (2000). Reducing intergroup bias: The common ingroup identity model. Philadelphia: Psychology Press.

19.

Greenland, K. , & Brown, R. (1999). Categorization and intergroup anxiety in contact between British and Japanese nationals. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 503-521.

20.

Hamberger, J. , & Hewstone, M. (1997). Inter-ethnic contact as a predictor of blatant and subtle prejudice: Tests of a model in four West European nations. British Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 173-190.

21.

Hamburger, Y. (1994). The contact hypothesis reconsidered: Effects of the atypical outgroup member on the outgroup stereotype. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 15, 339-358.

22.

Hewstone, M. (1996). Contact and categorization: Social psychological interventions to change intergroup relations. In C. N. Macrae , C. Stangor , & M. Hewstone (Eds.), Stereotypes and stereotyping (pp. 323-368). New York: Guilford Press.

23.

Hewstone, M. , & Brown, R. J. (1986). Contact is not enough: An intergroup perspective on the ‘contact hypothesis.’ In M. Hewstone & R. J. Brown (Eds.), Contact and conflict in intergroup encounters (pp. 1-44). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

24.

Hewstone, M. , Cairns, E. , Judd, C. M. , Voci, A. , & McLernon, F. (2000). Intergroup contact in Northern Ireland: Mediational and moderational hypotheses. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, Atlanta, GA.

25.

Hewstone, M. , & Hamberger, J. (2000). Perceived variability and stereotype change. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36, 103-124.

26.

Hewstone, M. , Rubin, M. , & Willis, H. (2002). Intergroup bias. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 575-604.

27.

Hogg, M. A. , & Abrams, D. (1993). Towards a single-process uncertainty-reduction model of social motivation in groups. In M. A. Hogg & D. Abrams (Eds.), Group motivation: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 173-190). New York: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.

28.

Hu, L-T. , & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1-55.

29.

Islam, M. R. , & Hewstone, M. (1993). Dimensions of contact as predictors of intergroup anxiety, perceived out-group variability, and out-group attitude: An integrative model. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 700-710.

30.

Jöreskog, K. G. , & Sörbom, D. (1996). LISREL 8 user’s reference guide. Chicago: Scientific Software International.

31.

MacCullum, R. C. , & Austin, J. T. (2000). Applications of structural equation modeling in psychological research. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 201-226.

32.

Mullen, B. , Brown, R. , & Smith, C. (1992). Ingroup bias as a function of salience, relevance, and status: An integration. European Journal of Social Psychology, 22, 103-122.

33.

Noblit, G. W. , & Collins, T. W. (1981). Qui bono? White students in a desegregated high school. Urban Review, 13, 205-216.

34.

Paolini, S. , Hewstone, M. , Cairns, E. , & Voci, A. (2002). Effects of direct and indirect cross-group friendships on judgments of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: The mediating role of an anxiety-reduction mechanism. Manuscript under review.

35.

Pettigrew, T. F. (1997). Generalized intergroup contact effects on prejudice. Personality and Social Psychological Bulletin, 23,173-185.

36.

Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual Review of Psychology, 49, 65-85.

37.

Pettigrew, T. F. , & Meertens, R. (1995). Subtle and blatant prejudice in western Europe. European Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 57-76.

38.

Pettigrew, T. F. , & Tropp, L. R. (2000). Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Recent meta-analytic findings. In S. Oskamp (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination, The Claremont symposium on applied social psychology (pp. 93-114). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

39.

Ramirez, A. , & Soriano, F. I. (1993). Differential patterns of intra-and interethnic interaction in minority adolescents: A causal model. Journal of Social Psychology, 133, 307-316.

40.

Rothbart, M. , & John, O. P. (1993). Intergroup relations and stereotype change: A social-cognitive analysis of some longitudinal findings. In P. M. Sniderman , P. E. Tetlock , & E. G. Carmines (Eds.), Prejudice, politics and the American dilemma (pp. 32-58). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

41.

Scarberry, N. C. , Ratcliff, C. D. , Lord, C. G. , Lanicek, D. L. , & Desforges, D. M. (1997). Effects of individuating information on the generalization part of Allport’s contact hypothesis. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 1291-1299.

42.

Sniderman, P. M. , Peri, P. , de Figueiredo, R. J. P. , & Piazza, T. (2000). The outsider: Prejudice and politics in Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

43.

Stephan, W. G. (1987). The contact hypothesis in intergroup relations. In C. Hendrick (Ed.), Group processes and intergroup relations: Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 9, pp. 13-40). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

44.

Stephan, W. G. , Diaz-Loving, R. , & Duran, A. (2000). Integrated threat theory and intercultural attitudes: Mexico and the United States. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31, 240-249.

45.

Stephan, W. G. , & Stephan, C. W. (1985). Intergroup anxiety. Journal of Social Issues, 41, 157-175.

46.

Stephan, W. G. , & Stephan, C. W. (2000). An integrated threat theory of prejudice. In S. Oskamp (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination (pp. 23-46). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

47.

Stephenson, G. M. (1981). Intergroup bargaining and negotiation. In J. C. Turner & H. Giles (Eds.), Intergroup behavior (pp. 168-198). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

48.

Van Oudenhoven, J-P. , Groenewoud, J. T. , & Hewstone, M. (1996). Cooperation, ethnic salience and generalization of interethnic attitudes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 26, 649-661.

49.

Vivian, J. , Hewstone, M. , & Brown, R. J. (1997). Intergroup contact: Theoretical and emipirical developments. In R. Ben-Ari & Y. Rich (Eds.), Enhancing education in heterogeneous schools: Theory and application (pp. 13-46). Ramat-Gun, Israel: Bar-Illan University Press.

50.

Voci, A. (2000). Perceived group variability and the salience of personal and social identity. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 11, pp. 177-221). Chichester, UK: Wiley.

51.

Wegener, D. T. , & Fabrigar, L. R. (2000). Analysis and design for nonexperimental data. Addressing causal and noncausal hypotheses. In H. T. Reis & C. M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology (pp. 412-450). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

52.

Wilder, D. A. (1984). Intergroup contact: The typical member and the exception to the rule. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 20, 177-194.

53.

Wilder, D. , & Simon, A. F. (2001). Affect as a cause of intergroup bias. In R. Brown & S.L. Gaertner (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of social psychology: Intergroup processes (pp. 153-172). Malden, MA: Blackwell.

54.

Wolsko, C. , Park, B. , Judd, C. M. , & Wittenbrink, B. (2000). Framing interethnic ideology: Effects of multicultural and color-blind perspectives on judgments of groups and individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 635-654.

55.

Wright, S. C. , Aron, A. , McLaughlin-Volpe, T. , & Ropp, S. A. (1997). The extended contact effect: Knowledge of cross-group friendships and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 73-90.