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Positive and negative intergroup contact and shared reality: Contact effects among host society and refugees
Author(s) -
Lutterbach Sebastian,
Beelmann Andreas
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.2601
Subject(s) - closeness , psychology , social psychology , german , mediation , context (archaeology) , identity (music) , sociology , physics , mathematics , archaeology , mathematical analysis , social science , paleontology , biology , acoustics , history
Two cross‐sectional studies examined the relationship between positive and negative intergroup contact and shared reality from a majority and a minority group perspective and indirect effects via two types of intergroup threat (threat to identity for the majority, discrimination fear for the minority) and differential closeness. Research was conducted in the context of German–Syrian relations to contrast contact effects on shared reality among German host society members and Syrian refugees. Study 1 revealed unique and asymmetrical effects of valenced contact on shared reality and indirect effects via threat to identity and differential closeness ( N = 226). In Study 2, positive contact among Syrian refugees ( N = 121) increased shared reality via differential closeness. Negative contact showed no relation to shared reality, but mediation analyses indicated an indirect effect via discrimination fear. Differences between majority and minority contact effects on shared reality are discussed along with the studies’ limitations and implications.