Abstract
Guided by the intergroup contact hypothesis, this study tested two models examining the associations among Korean young adults' consumption of U.S. dramas, direct contact with a U.S. American person, and their attitudes toward U.S. Americans in general. Results demonstrated that personal contact and mediated contact had a positive effect on intergroup attitudes, but that frequency of personal contact was a negative contributor. Mediated contact had different and stronger influences on participants' intergroup attitudes when they did not have personal contact with U.S. Americans. In addition, intergroup anxiety played a significant role in the contact modes and attitudes links.
Acknowledgments
This paper is based on the first author's dissertation under the direction of Yan Bing Zhang. An earlier version of this paper won a top paper award from the International and Intercultural Division at the 2010 annual conference of the National Communication Association, San Francisco, CA.