Contact improves group attitudes without necessarily changing stereotype content.

Evidence

In an empirical investigation of this issue, we found that moderately positive contact with a Latino confederate was sufficient to produce more positive attitudes towards Latinos as a group. Change in stereotype strength, however, occurred only when certain further conditions were met. Specifically, it was necessary for the Latino confederate to behave in a manner that disconfirmed the group stereotype, and at the same time, for the participant to continue to see the Latino as typical of his group (Wolsko, Park, Judd, & Bachelor, 2003). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 896

Categorization

• QUESTION: The ‘typical but disconfirming’ condition — requiring the exemplar to seem both ordinary and stereotype-breaking — is a subtle finding worth probing further as to why this dual condition works.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 896
• XREF: connects to: Empowering contact boosts minority readiness to cooperate across 24 samples — Nurit Shnabel and Johannes Ullrich, Identity Needs in Intergroup Relations:…, 97