Interacting With Outgroup Members Reduces Prejudice

Social psychologists have known for decades that working cooperatively with members of different social groups can reduce prejudice and intergroup conflict.

In the classic Robbers Cave study, two groups of boys at a summer camp came to despise each other after a series of heated competitions, but they came to like each other after both sides worked side by side to restore the camp’s water supply and pull a stalled truck over a hill. Elliot Aronson’s jigsaw classroom—in which students from different ethnic groups help each other learn key portions of a lesson—has demonstrated much the same thing.

The Contact Hypothesis

The Robbers Cave and jigsaw classroom studies used an approach first described by Harvard psychologist Gordon Allport (1954) as the contact hypothesis: Levels of prejudice decrease when groups possess equal status, work together to achieve common goals, and interact with the positive support of local authorities.

Subsequent studies have found that the optimal conditions identified by Allport—equal status and positive support, for example—are not necessary to achieve a contact effect (Pettigrew et al., 2011). Friendly interactions, in and of themselves, lessen feelings of prejudice because (1) we feel less anxious after spending time with outgroup members and (2) we feel greater empathy for people we know. These affective responses—less anxiety and more empathy—lead to reduced levels of prejudice and intergroup conflict.

Does Contact Work Even Under Challenging Conditions?

Critics of the contact hypothesis have argued that mere contact is unlikely to promote positive feelings when two groups have an emotionally fraught history with each other. Interacting with members of the outgroup may not have the desired effect when a (historically) advantaged group feels threatened by the outgroup, or when a (historically) disadvantaged group believes they have been unfairly treated by the outgroup.

In the United States, white men are a historically advantaged group, both socially and economically. Some white men feel threatened by immigrants; they fear they will lose their job to a foreigner who is willing to work for less pay. Will an intervention that encourages these men to interact with immigrants lead to lower levels of prejudice? Maybe. Maybe not.

In many countries, women are a historically disadvantaged group in the workplace. Some women believe they have been unfairly treated in terms of promotion decisions and sexual harassment. Will interacting with senior male colleagues make these women feel better about men? Hard to say.

A New, Large Multinational Study of Contact Effects

In a study published in April 2023, an international team of researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 34 studies that examined the effect of intergroup contact on the attitudes of individuals who felt either threatened or unfairly treated by members of the outgroup (Van Assche et al., 2023). The studies included responses from nearly 64,000 participants in 19 countries. Some countries were WEIRD (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic); others—Lebanon, Malaysia, and South Africa, for example—were not.

Overall, individuals who interacted with outgroup members generally reported lower levels of prejudice, a result that is fully consistent with other studies that have tested the contact hypothesis. When it comes to reducing prejudice, contact works, although the size of the effect is generally modest.

Across the 34 studies, perceived threat and perceived discrimination were strongly and negatively associated with intergroup attitudes. This is not surprising. We generally dislike individuals and groups who make us feel afraid or treat us unfairly.

That’s why the research team’s major finding is such a pleasant surprise. Across all studies, the beneficial effect of contact was as strong among individuals who reported high levels of threat as it was among individuals who reported low levels of threat. Similarly, the positive effect of contact was as strong among individuals who perceived high levels of discrimination as it was among individuals who perceived low levels of discrimination.

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The research team’s leader, social psychologist Jasper Van Assche at the University of Ghent in Belgium, offers a hopeful conclusion: “Contact is effective for promoting tolerant societies,” he wrote, “because it is effective even among subpopulations where achieving that goal might be most challenging” (Van Assche et al., 2023). It appears that two plausible inhibitors of the contact effect—perceived threat and perceived discrimination—do not limit or diminish the positive benefits of interacting with different others. Interacting with members of the outgroup reduces prejudice, even among individuals who feel threatened or unfairly treated.

Time to organize a picnic (with noncompetitive games, thank you) for all the company employees!