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Spontaneous imagined contact and intergroup relations: Quality matters
Author(s) -
Stathi Sofia,
Guerra Rita,
Di Bernardo Gian Antonio,
Vezzali Loris
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2600
Subject(s) - psychology , ingroups and outgroups , social psychology , outgroup , contact theory , quality (philosophy) , elaboration , psychological intervention , humanities , epistemology , philosophy , structural engineering , psychiatry , engineering
While research on experimental interventions that aim to improve outgroup attitudes via contact imagery grows, it is important to examine if contact imagery that occurs in spontaneous, non‐experimentally controlled conditions drives attitudes, and in what direction. To answer this, we constructed and validated a spontaneous imagined intergroup contact scale ( SIICS ) that differentiates between frequency, quality and elaboration of the spontaneous imagery of outgroups. In three correlational studies ( N Portugal = 305, N United Kingdom = 185, N Italy = 276), we tested the role of spontaneous imagined contact frequency, quality and elaboration in predicting attitudes and social distance (Studies 1–3) and intended behaviour (Study 3) toward immigrant groups. Results demonstrated that spontaneous imagined contact quality consistently predicted key outcome variables above and beyond the other two dimensions. Importantly, the effects were significant while controlling for other potent forms of direct and indirect contact. Implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.