Contact programs can backfire between groups with protracted conflict histories.

Evidence

Although the meetings were designed to create mutual liking and increase empathy and understanding, pretest/ post-test comparisons indicated that very few positive effects and some negative effects occurred among participants in the program when compared to nonparticipants. The mixed outcomes of the Israeli programs are a reminder of just how difficult it is to improve relations between groups that have a history of protracted conflict. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2654

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the general pattern in contact research that ill-designed or poorly-timed contact can worsen rather than improve relations.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 2654