An intervention approach to reducing threat appraisal and avoidance associated with intergroup interactions

ABSTRACT

Although intergroup contact is effective at reducing prejudice, avoidance of intergroup contact often creates a barrier to prejudice reduction. The present study aimed to reduce majority members’ desire to avoid intergroup interactions by devising an intervention aimed at altering cognitive appraisals. Majority group participants (156 Anglo Australians) were assigned to either the intervention or one of two control conditions. The intervention educated majority members about evidence-based techniques to improve interactions with minority members. Participants were provided with two interaction scenarios, one involving an outgroup minority and one involving an ingroup majority member. As predicted, the intervention reduced threat appraisal for the scenario involving outgroup minority member, but not for one involving ingroup majority member. The intervention similarly reduced avoidance desire, but this reduction was not restricted to the minority partner scenario; it was independent of the partner group. The importance of cognitive appraisals in improving intergroup relations is discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive appraisals
• expectancy
• intergroup anxiety
• intergroup contact
• intervention
• stress and coping

Acknowledgments

This research was conducted when the first author was a doctoral student at the University of Sydney. It was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award to the first author and an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant to the second author. Ethics approval to conduct this research was received from the University of Sydney Human Research Ethics Committee. Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data reported in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/umtg8.

Open scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/umtg8

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award to the first author and an Australian Research Council Discovery grant to the second author.

Notes on contributors

Adem F. Aydogan

Adem F. Aydogan is a Clinical Psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University. His research interests include philosophy of psychology, anxiety, and prejudice.

Karen Gonsalkorale

Dr. Karen Gonsalkorale is an applied psychology researcher. This research was completed when she was a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on intergroup relations, social cognition, and ostracism.