title: Bridging the gap on Facebook: assessing intergroup contact and its effects for intergroup relations.
abstract: In line with Allport's contact hypothesis, previous research showed that direct intergroup contact can reduce prejudices. However, establishing face-to-face contact is not always feasible. We postulate that Facebook-groups are a setting where direct and observed intergroup contact can develop, reducing prejudices and increasing mutual acceptance. Analyzing the comments of nine Facebook-groups with the destructive and constructive conflict scale, our results indicated that the expression of prejudices decreased and that of mutual acceptance increased over time, both for in- and outgroup members of the Facebook-groups. Only the expression of less prejudices, but not that of more mutual acceptance was predicted by intergroup contact. The influence of group-based motivations on the engagement in intergroup contact is discussed, and the overall findings are integrated in Steele and Brown's process model of media practices.
authors: Social Psychology Unit, Free University of Brussels, Brussels, Belgium. sandy.schumann@ulb.ac.be
authors: Sandy
authors: S
authors: Schumann
authors: Nicolas
authors: N
authors: van der Linden
authors: Olivier
authors: O
authors: Klein