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Breaking Barriers, Crossing Borders, Building Bridges: Communication Processes in Intergroup Dialogues
Author(s) -
Nagda Biren Ratnesh A.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2006.00473.x
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , contact hypothesis , prejudice (legal term) , psychology , social psychology , context (archaeology) , bridging (networking) , scholarship , political science , computer science , paleontology , psychiatry , law , biology , computer network
Research in intergroup contact and intergroup education is increasingly focused on the psychological and pedagogical processes to explain the impact of interventions on desired outcomes. This emerging scholarship has enriched our understanding about what types of interventions are effective or not and how these interventions impact outcomes of prejudice reduction and social inclusion. In the present study, a new theoretical dimension of processes operating in intergroup contact and education is investigated: communication processes. Factor analyses of communication processes within an intergroup encounter, using data from a pretest/posttest design with a diverse group of students (n= 211), revealed four factors: (1) appreciating difference, (2) engaging self, (3) critical self‐reflection, and (4) alliance building. Furthermore, path analysis shows that these communication processes fully mediate the impact of intergroup dialogue on bridging differences. The communication processes illuminate a deeper understanding of what happens within the context of intergroup encounters and provide a link between pedagogical strategies and psychological processes.