Contact reduces prejudice through five distinct mediating processes spanning cognitive, affective, and behavioral channels.

Evidence

Dovidio, Gaertner, and Kawakami (2003) argue for a unified framework which explains how the contact conditions proposed by Allport might achieve their effect. In this proposal, the several explanatory variables (i.e., mediators) fall into five key categories: functional relations (such as cooperation), behavioral factors (such as cognitive dissonance), affective factors (such as empathy and anxiety), and two cognitive factors: (a) learning new information and social representations via decategorization or personalization and (b) recategorization. Dovidio et al.’s (2003) reformulation suggests that the four prerequisite conditions (discussed earlier in this chapter), friendship, and personal interaction, lead to the five mediating processes, which result in more positive outgroup attitudes and reduced stereotyping. In the final stage, these attitudes are generalized from the individual to the outgroup as a whole. Both cognitive and affective factors are important aspects of the process by which this generalization occurs. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1825

Dovidio, Gaertner, and Kawakami (2003) argue for a unified framework which explains how the contact conditions proposed by Allport might achieve their effect. In this proposal, the several explanatory variables (i.e., mediators) fall into five key categories: functional relations (such as cooperation), behavioral factors (such as cognitive dissonance), affective factors (such as empathy and anxiety), and two cognitive factors: (a) learning new information and social representations via decategorization or personalization and (b) recategorization. Dovidio et al.’s (2003) reformulation suggests that the four prerequisite conditions (discussed earlier in this chapter), friendship, and personal interaction, lead to the five mediating processes, which result in more positive outgroup attitudes and reduced stereotyping. In the final stage, these attitudes are generalized from the individual to the outgroup as a whole. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1825

Categorization

• DEFINE: Organizes Allport’s contact conditions into a five-category mediator framework that could be lifted for any explanation-of-mechanism writing.
• XREF: Connects to the existing vault thread reassessing Allport’s contact conditions and mechanisms.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1825