Allport's Intergroup Contact Hypothesis: Its History and Influence
- Historical Background. The contact hypothesis is the idea that intergroup contact under particular conditions can reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members.
- Allport’s Four Conditions. ...
- Examples of Contact Hypothesis. ...
- Evaluating the Contact Hypothesis. ...
What is the contact hypothesis in sociology?
Contact hypothesis. In psychology and other social sciences, the contact hypothesis suggests that intergroup contact under appropriate conditions can effectively reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members. Following WWII and the desegregation of the military and other public institutions, policymakers and social scientists had ...
What is the contact hypothesis of prejudice?
The contact hypothesis suggests that interpersonal contact between groups can reduce prejudice. According to Gordon Allport, who first proposed the theory, four conditions are necessary to reduce prejudice: equal status, common goals, cooperation, and institutional support.
What is Gordon Allport’s contact hypothesis?
The contact hypothesis is the idea that intergroup contact under particular conditions can reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members. In a single chapter of his book, The Nature of Prejudice, Gordon Allport (1955) attempts to address the question of what happens when groups interact through his “intergroup contact hypothesis.”
Who is the author of the intergroup contact hypothesis?
Pettigrew, T. F., & Tropp, L. R. (2005). Allport’s intergroup contact hypothesis: Its history and influence. On the nature of prejudice: Fifty years after Allport, 262-277. Riordan, C., & Ruggiero, J. (1980).
Which is an example of the contact hypothesis?
For example, if a certain white individual holds negative stereotypes about Latinos, then, according to the contact hypothesis, those stereotypes should be reduced by having the individual interact with Latinos in a supportive, friendly environment.
What is contact hypothesis in social psychology?
Contact hypothesis was proposed by Gordon Allport (1897-1967) and states that social contact between social groups is sufficient to reduce intergroup prejudice.
What is the contact hypothesis in sociology?
The contact hypothesis is based on the idea that peaceful and friendly interpersonal contact can help in reducing prejudices between groups and foster better cooperation and friendly relationships.
Which is an example of contact hypothesis apex?
For example, contact was able to reduce prejudice based on sexual orientation and prejudice against people with disabilities. The researchers also found that contact with members of one group not only reduced prejudice towards that particular group, but reduced prejudice towards members of other groups as well.
What is the contact hypothesis quizlet?
Contact hypothesis. And interactionist perspective which states that in cooperative circumstances interracial contact between people of equal status will reduce prejudice. Discrimination. The denial of opportunities in equal rights individuals and groups because of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons.
Which of the following is true about the contact hypothesis?
Which of the following is true about the contact hypothesis? It states that interracial contact between people of equal status will cause them to become less prejudiced and to abandon previous stereotypes.
How does contact hypothesis reduce prejudice?
In psychology and other social sciences, the contact hypothesis suggests that intergroup contact under appropriate conditions can effectively reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members.
How does contact reduce prejudice?
Thus, positive contact reduces prejudice on a macrolevel, whereby people are influenced by the behavior of others in their social context, not merely on a microscale, via individuals' direct experience of positive contact with outgroup members.
What is the contact situation?
The Contact Situation. 1. The conditions under which groups first come into contact determine the fate of the minority group and shape intergroup relations for many years to come. 2. The Noel Hypothesis identifies three features of the contact situation that lead to inequality between groups.
What are the four ingredients of Allport's contact hypothesis?
The intergroup contact hypothesis was first proposed by Allport (1954), who suggested that positive effects of intergroup contact occur in contact situations characterized by four key conditions: equal status, intergroup cooperation, common goals, and support by social and institutional authorities (See Table 1).
What is Gordon Allport's intergroup contact hypothesis?
Gordon W. Allport is often credited with the development of the contact hypothesis, also known as Intergroup Contact Theory. The premise of Allport's theory states that under appropriate conditions interpersonal contact is one of the most effective ways to reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members.
What is extended contact?
The extended contact hypothesis proposes that knowledge that an in-group member has a close relationship with an out-group member can lead to more positive intergroup attitudes.
Why is contact hypothesis important?
In psychology and other social sciences, the contact hypothesis suggests that intergroup contact under appropriate conditions can effectively reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members.
What is Gordon Allport's intergroup contact hypothesis?
Gordon W. Allport is often credited with the development of the contact hypothesis, also known as Intergroup Contact Theory. The premise of Allport's theory states that under appropriate conditions interpersonal contact is one of the most effective ways to reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members.
What are the four ingredients of Allport's contact hypothesis?
The intergroup contact hypothesis was first proposed by Allport (1954), who suggested that positive effects of intergroup contact occur in contact situations characterized by four key conditions: equal status, intergroup cooperation, common goals, and support by social and institutional authorities (See Table 1).
How does contact reduce prejudice?
Thus, positive contact reduces prejudice on a macrolevel, whereby people are influenced by the behavior of others in their social context, not merely on a microscale, via individuals' direct experience of positive contact with outgroup members.
What are the four conditions that Allport believes are most likely to reduce prejudice?
According to Allport, contact between groups is most likely to reduce prejudice if the following four conditions are met: The members of the two groups have equal status. Allport believed that contact in which members of one group are treated as subordinate wouldn’t reduce prejudice—and could actually make things worse.
What is the power of human?
In his 2019 book The Power of Human, psychology researcher Adam Waytz suggested that power dynamics may complicate intergroup contact situations, and that attempts to reconcile groups that are in conflict need to consider whether there is a power imbalance between the groups.
What is contact hypothesis?
The contact hypothesis is a theory in psychology which suggests that prejudice and conflict between groups can be reduced if members of the groups interact with each other.
Why does contact reduce prejudice?
Contact may also reduce prejudice because it increases empathy and helps people to see things from the other group’s perspective. According to psychologist Thomas Pettigrew and his colleagues, contact with another group allows people “to sense how outgroup members feel and view the world.”.
What are the conditions necessary to reduce prejudice?
According to Gordon Allport, who first proposed the theory, four conditions are necessary to reduce prejudice: equal status, common goals, cooperation, and institutional support. While the contact hypothesis has been studied most often in the context of racial prejudice, researchers have found that contact was able to reduce prejudice ...
Why is contact between groups important?
While contact between groups isn’t a panacea, it’s a powerful tool to reduce conflict and prejudice— and it may even encourage members of more powerful groups to become allies who advocate for the rights of members of marginalized groups.
Why is contact beneficial?
Another reason why contact is beneficial is because it fosters the formation of friendships across group lines.
Historical Background
The contact hypothesis is the idea that intergroup contact under particular conditions can reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members.
Why Does Contact Reduce Prejudice?
Brewer and Miller (1996) and Brewer and Brown (1998) suggest that these conditions can be viewed as an application of dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957).
Examples of Contact Hypothesis
Historically, in contact hypothesis research, racial and ethnic minorities have been the out-group of choice; however, the hypothesis can extend to out-groups created by a number of factors. One such alienating situation is homelessness.
Evaluating the Contact Hypothesis
Allport’s testable formulation of the Contact Hypothesis has spawned research using a wide range of approaches, such as field studies, laboratory experiments, surveys, and archival research.
How does intergroup contact reduce prejudice?
Secondly, intergroup contact is believed to reduce the fear and anxiety people have when interacting with the outgroup, which in turn reduces their negative evaluations of the outgroup . Thirdly, intergroup contact is hypothesised to increase people's ability to take the perspective of the outgroup and empathize with their concerns. Empirical research has only found weak support for role of outgroup knowledge in prejudice reduction; however, the affective mechanisms of intergroup anxiety and outgroup empathy have accumulated extensive empirical support.
What is the reduction of prejudice through intergroup contact?
The reduction of prejudice through intergroup contact can be described as the reconceptualization of group categories. Allport (1954) claimed that prejudice is a direct result of generalizations and oversimplifications made about an entire group of people based on incomplete or mistaken information.
What is extended contact?
The extended contact hypothesis, established by Wright and colleagues in 1997, posits that knowing that a member of one's own group has a close relationship with a member of an outgroup can lead to more positive attitudes towards that outgroup. Correlational research has demonstrated that individuals who report knowledge that an ingroup member has an outgroup friend typically report more positive outgroup attitudes, while experimental research has shown that providing ingroup members with this information creates the same positive effect.
What is intergroup contact research?
The majority of intergroup contact research has focused on reducing prejudice towards African Americans. For example, in one study, Brown, Brown, Jackson, Sellers, and Manuel (2003) investigated the amount of contact white athletes had with black teammates and whether the athletes played an individual or team sport. Team sports (e.g., football or basketball), as opposed to individual sports (e.g., track or swimming), require teamwork and cooperative interactions to win. Results showed that White athletes who played team sports reported less prejudice than athletes who played individual sports.
What is intergroup cooperation?
Intergroup cooperation. Both groups must work together for their common goals without competition. Groups need to work together in the pursuit of common goals. Support of authorities, law or customs. Both groups must acknowledge some authority that supports the contact and interactions between the groups.
What are the conditions of intergroup contact?
In the years prior to Allport’s framing of intergroup contact theory, social scientists had already begun discussing the conditions of intergroup contact that would produce intergroup anxiety, prejudice, or other “detrimental psychological effects”. Wilner, Walkley, & Cook, two years prior to The Nature of Prejudice, studied segregation and integration in housing projects, and also suggested four conditions under which intergroup attitudes would change for the better. Under the assumption that prejudice arises from racial segregation, they suggested that it would diminish when members occupy “the same or equivalent roles in the situation,” share background characteristics like education, age, gender or socioeconomic status, perceive common interests or goals, and when the “social climate ] is not unfavorable to interracial association.”
How to reduce prejudice in intergroups?
In other words, four conditions under which intergroup contact will reduce prejudice are: 1 Equal status. Both groups must engage equally in the relationship. Members of the group should have similar backgrounds, qualities, and characteristics. Differences in academic backgrounds, wealth, skill, or experiences should be minimized if these qualities will influence perceptions of prestige and rank in the group. 2 Common goals. Both groups must work on a problem/task and share this as a common goal, sometimes called a superordinate goal, a goal that can only be attained if the members of two or more groups work together by pooling their efforts and resources. 3 Intergroup cooperation. Both groups must work together for their common goals without competition. Groups need to work together in the pursuit of common goals. 4 Support of authorities, law or customs. Both groups must acknowledge some authority that supports the contact and interactions between the groups. The contact should encourage friendly, helpful, egalitarian attitudes and condemn ingroup-outgroup comparisons.
Historical Background
- The contact hypothesis is the idea that intergroup contact under particular conditions can reduce prejudice between majority and minority group members. In a single chapter of his book, The Nature of Prejudice, Gordon Allport (1955) attempts to address the question of what happens when groups interact through his “intergroup contact hypothesis.” Th...
Allport’s Four Conditions
- All of this prior work, scholars agree, created a foundation and context for Allport’s thinking (Pettigrew and Tropp, 2005). Indeed, Allport cited Williams, Brophy, Stouffer et al., and the housing studies in The Nature of Prejudice. 1. Equal Status Between Groups: Members of the contact situation should not have an unequal, hierarchical relationship (e.g. teacher/student, employer/e…
Why Does Contact Reduce Prejudice?
- Brewer and Miller (1996) and Brewer and Brown (1998) suggest that these conditionscan be viewed as an application of dissonance theory(Festinger, 1957). Specifically, when individuals with negative attitudes toward specific groups find themselves in situations in which they engage in positive social interactions with members of those groups, their behavior is inconsistent with …
Evaluating The Contact Hypothesis
- Allport’s testable formulation of the Contact Hypothesis has spawned research using a wide range of approaches, such as field studies, laboratory experiments, surveys, and archival research. Pettigrew and Tropp (2005) conducted a 5-year meta analysis on 515 studies (a method where researchers gather data from every possible study and statistically pool results to examin…