Anxiety and threat block both intergroup contact and its benefits

Evidence

High intergroup anxiety and threat also can impede both contact and its positive effects (Islam & Hewstone 1993; Stephan 1992; Stephan & Stephan 1985, 1989, 1992, 1996; Wilder 1993a,b; Wilder & Shapiro 1989). — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Intergroup Contact Theory, 94

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Negative outgroup contact raises anxiety, which breeds hostility and contact avoidance. — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 47