Cross-group friendships reduce prejudice partly by lowering intergroup anxiety.

Evidence

If generic contact can reduce prejudice, then it is unsurprising that having cross-group friends is particularly effective. Paolini et al (2004) found that having cross-group friends was associated with reduced inter-group anxiety in samples of both students (study 1) and adults in the general population (study 2); contact exerted its effect on attitudes, in part, via reduced anxiety. — Miles Hewstone and Joanne Hughes, Reconciliation in Northern Ireland, 11

Extended cross-group friendship was associated with lower levels of outgroup prejudice (controlling for direct contact), a relationship that was due to a significant reduction in inter-group anxiety. … But we also found that within each level of intimacy, extended contact was related to outgroup trust only at high levels of rated closeness to ingroup contacts. … Christ et al found that extended contact at baseline increased participants’ inclination to help outgroup members 1 year later, and this effect of extended contact was amplified for participants who had little experience of direct contact with outgroup members. — Miles Hewstone and Joanne Hughes, Reconciliation in Northern Ireland, 15

Categorization

• XREF: Directly bears on the reader’s question about whether attachment converts into glorification: contact works through an affective route (anxiety reduction), relevant to the mechanism question in the reading purpose. — connects to: Cross-group friendship is the most effective intergroup contact form for reconciliation. — Miles Hewstone and Joanne Hughes, Reconciliation in Northern Ireland: the…, 5; Cross-group friendships cause later intergroup trust, not the reverse. — Miles Hewstone and Joanne Hughes, Reconciliation in Northern Ireland: the…, 10; Observing ingroup friends interact with outgroups reduces one’s future intergroup anxiety — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1834 (+7 more)
• ADDENDUM: Supports the ‘Grafting & Growth’ piece’s interest in indirect infra-structural connection: extended contact is a third-party relay, structurally like root grafts joining separate trees.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Miles Hewstone and Joanne Hughes, Reconciliation in Northern Ireland: the…, 11; Miles Hewstone and Joanne Hughes, Reconciliation in Northern Ireland: the…, 15

Broader Connections

• Cross-group friendship especially reduces prejudice through intimacy and equal-status contact. #expands (0.85) — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Linda R. Tropp, A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup…, 98
• Observing ingroup friends interact with outgroups reduces one’s future intergroup anxiety #expands (0.80) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1834
• Mere knowledge that ingroup peers befriend outgroup members improves intergroup attitudes #complicates (0.75) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1816
• Even knowing a friend’s out-group contact reduces prejudice #complicates (0.72) — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Intergroup Contact Theory, 73
• Intergroup anxiety produces information biases, defensiveness, and avoidance of future contact #contradicts (0.70)