Prior interracial contact predicted calmer white reactions to the Watts riot.

Evidence

Support for such a benign process is available, though plausible rival explanations remain. Consider Jeffries & Ransford’s (1969) findings on middle-class white reactions to the Watts race riot in Los Angeles. Those who had prior interracial contact were significantly less fearful of blacks, less punitive, and less likely to view the riot as caused by outside agitators. — Thomas F. Pettigrew, Intergroup Contact Theory, 39

Categorization

• QUESTION: Are these effects causal or just selection — do people who already seek interracial contact simply differ in temperament? The passage itself flags plausible rival explanations.
• SHARE: A very specific 1969 study on white reactions to the Watts riot — the kind of dated, precise citation that appeals to someone working on racial attitudes in the 1960s US.