Friendly contact and generalized attitude change are in tension with each other

Evidence

A theoretical paradox had thus arisen: whereas interpersonal encounters were likely to be pleasant, they might fail to generalize without some salience of group membership; conversely, salient intergroup encounters could generalize to the whole outgroup, but might be undermined by the concomitant generation of intergroup anxiety (viz., “anxiety stemming from contact with outgroup members”; see Stephan & Stephan, 1985, p. 158; see also Smith & Mackie, ch. 22 this volume). — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1812

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A genuine structural paradox worth sitting with — the two desired outcomes (pleasant interactions, generalized attitude change) are each undermined by the conditions that produce the other.
• XREF: connects to: Personal contact with Poles, not abstract pre-judgment, dissolved expellee hostility. — Andrew Demshuk, The Lost German East: Forced Migration…, 1283