Knowing in-group peers befriend out-group others raises one’s perceived category complexity

Evidence

But it may not only be direct contact, that is, actual face-to-face contact with out-group members that may prompt higher social identity complexity. Brewer (2008) argues that even extended contact may play a role in affecting social identity complexity. According to Brewer, the awareness of other in-group members’ contact with out-group members should inevitably enhance awareness of the nonoverlapping nature of social categories, including one’s own. Since extended contact involves the knowledge of fellow in-group members’ contact with a diverse group of others (with whom the individual may not be friends him or herself), the recognition that not all of one’s acquaintances and friendship circles overlap should enhance awareness of the complexity of own and others’ multiple group memberships. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 566

Categorization

• XREF: Extends my prior thread on contact-type effects on prejudice from the Allport reassessment; extended/vicarious contact as a cognitive-mechanism lever parallels imagined-contact interventions.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 566