Can intergroup contact improve humanity attributions?
In this paper, intergroup contact was evaluated as a strategy to favor outgroup humanization. We tested a double-mediation model, in which contact is associated with both decreased salience of intergroup boundaries and the adoption of a common identity. These recategorizations, in turn, are related to lower levels of anxiety and higher levels of empathy, both emotions being proximal predictors of outgroup humanization. The model was tested using structural equation modeling in the context of different intergroup relations: Italians versus immigrants (Study 1); Northern Italians versus Southern Italians (Study 2). Supporting the hypotheses, group representations and emotions mediated the relationship between contact and humanity attributions. The practical implications of results are discussed.
Department of Applied Psychology, University of Padova, Padua, Italy. dora.capozza@unipd.it
Dora
D
Capozza
Elena
E
Trifiletti
Loris
L
Vezzali
Irene
I
Favara
D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004644:Emotions; D004645:Empathy; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007558:Italy / Q000208:ethnology; D008960:Models, Psychological; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012938:Social Perception; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data