Miles Hewstone and Ed Cairns and Alberto Voci and Juergen Hamberger and Ulrike Niens — Intergroup Contact, Forgiveness, and Experience of “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland

12 published claims from this book.

• Contact predicts forgiveness only for Catholics, while ingroup identification inhibits it only for Protestants
• Direct suffering within conflict suppresses forgiveness, but friendship contact still promotes it
• Durable peace requires transforming mindsets, not only weapons.
• Ingroup identification predicts less forgiveness only among the higher-status group
• Intergroup contact most strongly and reliably predicts willingness to mix with the outgroup
• Intergroup contact predicts forgiveness-related attitudes even in those who suffered sectarian conflict.
• Northern Ireland spent millions on government-funded intergroup contact initiatives
• Outgroup friendship contact correlates with forgiveness, trust, and perspective-taking across both religious groups
• Outgroup friendship may predict forgiveness toward that outgroup
• Segregation sustains conflict by institutionalizing mutual ignorance and suspicion
• Segregation yields real psychological safety benefits that complicate any push to integrate
• Widespread personal exposure to violence and its link to paramilitary support make conflict intractable.