Intergroup contact may differentiate perceptions of one’s own group, not just outsiders.

Evidence

We propose that one might think of intergroup contact as affecting not only more differentiated out-group perceptions, but also more differentiated in-group perceptions. That contact may be, to some extent, involved in shaping in-group perceptions, or even multiple in-group perceptions, has not received much research attention to date, and insufficiently so, we believe. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 557

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth pursuing: does meeting outgroup members actually fracture one’s own group identity in measurable ways, and is that a gain or a cost?
• SEED: Possible essay angle: why we assume contact only humanizes ‘them’ when the deeper humanizing effect may be seeing nuance within ‘us’.