Cross-group friendship and empathy reduce the threat behind intergroup bias.

Evidence

Because intergroup threat involves motivational and emotional mechanisms, targeting intergroup affect may also offer a way of reducing intergroup threat. Cross-group friendships are effective at reducing intergroup biases (Pettigrew, 1997), perhaps because they initially reduce intergroup threat as well. Perspective-taking increases empathy for outgroup members, which in turn reduces intergroup bias (Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000; Vescio, Sechrist, & Paolucci, 2003). — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup Attitudes, 165

Allport specified four conditions for optimal intergroup contact: equal group status within the situation, common goals, intergroup cooperation and authority support. Varied research supports the hypothesis, but four problems remain. 1. A selection bias limits cross-sectional studies, since prejudiced people avoid intergroup contact. Yet research finds that the positive effects of cross-group friendship are larger than those of the bias. — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Intergroup Contact Theory, 3

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The selection-bias objection is the strongest attack on contact research, and the response — that the effect sizes from friendship exceed the bias — undercuts an entire methodological critique of the field.
• QUESTION: How exactly was the bias quantified against the friendship effect? Worth chasing the original comparison studies.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 165; Thomas F. Pettigrew, Intergroup Contact Theory, 3
• XREF: connects to: Group threats act through intergroup emotions to reach outgroup attitudes. — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 149; Different threat types trigger distinct emotions that shape reactions — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 66; Recategorization into a common identity can backfire and increase subgroup bias via distinctiveness loss. — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 176 (+2 more)