Contact with one out-group improves attitudes toward unrelated out-groups

Evidence

Social identity complexity may also be an important factor explaining why contact brings about so-called secondary transfer effects (Pettigrew, 2009). Secondary transfer effects describe situations in which contact with a member of one particular out-group (the “ primary” out-group) has positive consequences for attitudes not only toward this group in general, but also towards other, even unrelated out-groups that were not involved in the initial contact situation (“secondary” out-groups). … We found that social identity complexity positively mediated the effects of cross-group friendship with members of the primary out-group on attitudes toward the secondary out-groups. In other words, cross-group friendships were indirectly associated with more positive attitudes toward the other secondary out-groups, via higher social identity complexity. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 570

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the contact hypothesis and prejudice reduction literature; also resonates with the reader’s interest in how single interventions generalize across domains. — connects to: Intergroup contact most strongly and reliably predicts willingness to mix with the outgroup — Miles Hewstone and Ed Cairns and Alberto Voci and Juergen Hamberger and Ulrike Niens, Intergroup Contact, Forgiveness, and…, 43; Observing warm interactions between political rivals reduces outgroup animosity — Rachel Hartman et al., Interventions to Reduce Partisan…, 57; Positive contact with hated out-groups can transform radicals — Ryan Andrew Brown, Todd C. Helmus, Rajeev Ramchand, Alina I. Palimaru, Sarah Weilant, Ashley L. Rhoades, and Liisa Hiatt (RAND Corporation), Violent Extremism in America:…, 71
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 570