Intergroup contact reduces prejudice only when it reveals common interests and humanity.

Evidence

The final words of Allport’s chapter on contact are the suggestion that contact will reduce prejudice “provided it is of a sort that leads to the perception of common interests and common humanity between members of the two groups” (1954/1979, p. 281). This contention is borne out most directly in the research examining decategorized, personalized interaction (Brewer & Miller, 1984; Miller, 2002), and in that which advocates recategorization of group structures (Gaertner et al., 1989). Allport (1954/ 1979) also foresaw research which promotes intergroup encounters that retain relatively high levels of group salience (Hewstone & Brown, 1986) when he included in his comprehensive list of key “Kinds of Contact” that it was important to ask, “Is the contact perceived in terms of intergroup relations or not perceived as such?” (p. 263). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 1841

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes decategorized/personalized, recategorized, and group-salient contact models — though the passage does not fully define each; useful sketch.