The benefit of contact for prejudice-prone individuals: The type of stigmatized outgroup matters.

Intergroup contact reduces prejudice against a variety of social outgroups and seems to be particularly effective at reducing prejudice in individuals most prone to it-those high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO). The present study examines the moderating roles of RWA and SDO in the contact-prejudice relationship, targeting dissident, dangerous, and derogated outgroups: lesbians and gay men, people with schizophrenia, and Indigenous Australians, respectively. In total, 234 participants self-reported contact and prejudice against these outgroups and completed RWA and SDO scales. Contact predicted less prejudice against lesbians and gay men and Indigenous Australians in participants high in RWA and participants high in SDO. However, contact only predicted less prejudice against people with schizophrenia in participants low in RWA or SDO. The results suggest that the ability for intergroup contact to reduce prejudice in prejudice-prone individuals may depend on the outgroup targeted, specifically the threat they pose and the level of prejudice held against them.

Intergroup contact and mental health stigma: A comparative effectiveness meta-analysis.

Mental health stigma is a substantial problem all over the world. Although many interventions to reduce stigma exist, there is considerable methodological variability, making it difficult for decision-makers to determine what strategies are the most effective and what characteristics make them so. To this end, we conducted a meta-analysis on intergroup contact strategies and examined several potential moderators. We searched 5 databases for published and unpublished studies and retrieved 101 studies from 24 countries that could be included in the analyses. Ninety studies assessed outcomes immediately after the intervention (n = 15,826), 33 in the short-term (n = 3,697), and 7 in the medium-term (n = 842). The effect of contact was significant and small-to-medium in size at all three timepoints, d = -0.384, -0.334, and -0.526, respectively. Intervention effectiveness did not differ between contact with or without an educational component, different contact mediums, or the mental illness of the outgroup member. However, the effect of contact was stronger in non-Western countries and in university students and health professionals compared to community members. These results may inform policy-makers of the most effective and suitable stigma-reduction initiatives to invest in and can guide researchers towards important avenues for future research.

Using Electronic Contact to Reduce Homonegative Attitudes, Emotions, and Behavioral Intentions Among Heterosexual Women and Men: A Contemporary Extension of the Contact Hypothesis.

The current study experimentally examined the potential for a contemporary extension of the contact hypothesis, known as electronic contact, or E-contact, to reduce sexual prejudice, intergroup anxiety, and avoidant behavioral intentions among heterosexuals. It also extended the sexual minority contact literature by examining the role of participant and interaction partner sex as a possible boundary condition of this contact-prejudice relationship. To test our hypotheses, 140 heterosexual female and male university students were randomly allocated to interact with a homosexual or heterosexual, female or male E-contact partner, in a collaborative and text-only online interaction before completing the outcome measures. Overall, the results demonstrated that interacting online with a female, as opposed to a male, homosexual E-contact partner reduced heterosexual men's feelings of intergroup anxiety, which in turn was associated with lower sexual prejudice and outgroup avoidance. For heterosexual women, however, E-contact did not influence the outcome variables. In the context of sexual prejudice, these results suggest that E-contact may be particularly useful as a prejudice-reduction strategy among individuals who typically require it most: heterosexual men.