Combining personal disclosure with outgroup typicality reduces bias toward the whole group

Evidence

Recent empirical work has considered the combined impact of the intergroup and interpersonal approaches. Specifically, Ensari and Miller (2002, study 1, involving traditional Islamic versus secularist students in Turkey) had a traditional Islamic confederate, whose attire and description of herself were either typical or atypical of her group, disclose either personal and unique information or impersonal and general information to a participant, prior to undertaking a cooperative task (see Miller, 2002). The combined perceptions of disclosure (interpersonal) and typicality (intergroup) reduced subsequent bias toward new outgroup members, who themselves had no connection to the confederate other than shared group membership. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1816

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Supports the ‘Grafting & Growth’ piece’s broader theme of how intimate/structural connection mechanisms generalize beyond their original object.
• XREF: connects to: Cross-cutting exposure fails because outgroup posts are predominantly derogatory