Decategorized contact risks failing to improve attitudes toward the outgroup as a whole.

Evidence

Hewstone and Brown (1986) argued that, under decategorized contact, attitudes towards the outgroup as a whole would remain unchanged, due to the very conditions intended to produce the attitude change. Nevertheless, practically, for categories that are visually salient (e.g., race, gender), complete decategorization is unlikely to occur, thus providing some basis for the benefits of positive personalized interaction to generalize to attitudes to the group as a whole (Miller, 2002). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1809

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Unprepared intergroup contact can backfire and worsen polarization.