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Contents
- Abstract
- Past Reviews of the Intergroup Contact Literature
- Incomplete Samples of Relevant Papers
- Absence of Strict Inclusion Rules
- Nonquantitative Assessments of Contact Effects
- Testing and Reinterpreting Allport's Optimal Conditions
- Ruling Out Alternative Explanations for Contact–Prejudice Effects
- Participant Selection and the Causal Sequence Problem
- The File Drawer: Publication Bias Problem
- The Generalization of Effects Problem
- Rigor of Research Studies
- Study and Participant Characteristics as Moderators of Contact–Prejudice Effects
- Method
- Inclusion Criteria
- Criterion 1
- Criterion 2
- Criterion 3
- Criterion 4
- Locating Relevant Studies
- Computation and Analysis of Effect Sizes
- Ratings for Studies and Samples
- Results
- Examining the Overall Pattern of Effects: Does Intergroup Contact Reduce Prejudice?
- Tests for Threats to Validity
- The causal sequence problem: Examining choice to engage in contact
- The file drawer problem: The application of multiple tests
- The generalization of effects problem
- Research rigor: Examining multiple tests
- Study type
- Quality of control groups used
- Type of contact measure
- Quality of contact and prejudice measures
- Evaluating the Role of Allport's Conditions
- Global test: Structured optimal contact
- Specific tests of individual conditions
- Subset Analyses for Racial or Ethnic Samples and Other Samples
- Supplementary Analyses of Participant and Study Moderators
- Target group
- Age
- Sex
- Geographic area
- Contact setting
- Date of study
- Discussion
- Does Intergroup Contact Reduce Prejudice?
- What Role Do Allport's Conditions Play in Helping Contact to Reduce Prejudice?
- Moving Toward a Reformulation of Intergroup Contact Theory
- Directions for Future Research
- Appendix A
Figures and Tables
Abstract
The present article presents a meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. With 713 independent samples from 515 studies, the meta-analysis finds that intergroup contact typically reduces intergroup prejudice. Multiple tests indicate that this finding appears not to result from either participant selection or publication biases, and the more rigorous studies yield larger mean effects. These contact effects typically generalize to the entire outgroup, and they emerge across a broad range of outgroup targets and contact settings. Similar patterns also emerge for samples with racial or ethnic targets and samples with other targets. This result suggests that contact theory, devised originally for racial and ethnic encounters, can be extended...