Generalizing reduced prejudice requires liking first, then making race salient

Evidence

Observe the time sequence. First, the prejudiced subjects found the stereotype-disconfirming black as similar and grew to like her in the optimal situation. Next the black confederate made race salient by telling of past discrimination. Then the white confederate emphasized the link between their friend’s bad treatment and racial discrimination. — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Intergroup Contact Theory, 104

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The ordering is the counterintuitive load-bearing mechanism: if race is made salient before affection forms, the same disclosure would likely harden rather than soften attitudes.