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Intergroup fears and concerns among minority and majority groups: Implications for contact and attitudes

Intergroup fears and concerns among minority and majority groups: Implications for contact and attitudes

Stathi, Sofia ORCID: 0000-0002-1218-5239, Pavetich, Melissa, Di Bernardo, Gian Antonio, Cadamuro, Alessia, Cocco, Veronica Margherita and Vezzali, Loris (2020) Intergroup fears and concerns among minority and majority groups: Implications for contact and attitudes. Journal of Community Psychology, 48 (3). pp. 1010-1027. ISSN 0090-4392 (Print), 1520-6629 (Online) (doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.22322)

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Abstract

Aims:
Driven by the literature on pluralistic ignorance, our research investigates fear of appearing racist, being rejected, discriminated, and disinterest in intergroup contact as antecedents of contact and outgroup attitudes, focusing on attributional differences between the majority and minority group perspectives.

Methods:
Questionnaires were distributed in schools in Northern Italy. Participants were 400 Italian and 141 immigrant high-school students.

Results:
The results showed that lack of interest in contact was the strongest predictor of contact for the majority group. For the minority group, fear of rejection emerged as the strongest predictor. The majority group attributed the minority to avoid contact most strongly due to the fear that they would be rejected, and the minority group perceived it was due to the majority not being interested in contact.

Conclusion:
Our research contributes to understanding the divergent concerns majority and minority groups have in relation to intergroup contact, and discusses the importance of tackling these concerns.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: fear of rejection, interest in contact, pluralistic ignorance, intergroup contact, attitudes, adolescents, group representations
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences
Faculty of Education, Health & Human Sciences > School of Human Sciences (HUM)
Last Modified: 06 Feb 2021 01:38
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/26726

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