European Journal of Social Psychology
Volume 49, Issue 2, 2019, Pages 385-397

How the interplay of imagined contact and first-person narratives improves attitudes toward stigmatized immigrants: A conditional process model (Article)

Igartua J.-J.* , Wojcieszak M. , Kim N.
  • a Department of Sociology and Communication, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
  • b Department of Communication, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States
  • c Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Abstract

This article assesses the mechanisms whereby first-person narratives featuring stigmatized immigrants improve outgroup attitudes and encourage intergroup contact among prejudiced individuals. We rely on a 2 (imagined contact vs. control) × 2 (similar vs. dissimilar message protagonist) experiment on a systematic sample of native British adults. Results show that encouraging imagined contact prior to reading a short testimonial featuring an immigrant protagonist who is similar to the recipients in terms of social identity enhances identification with the protagonist, thereby improving outgroup attitudes and encouraging intergroup contact, and especially strongly among those who are prejudiced toward immigrants (i.e., high on modern racism). Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for the work on imagined contact, narrative persuasion, and identification, as well as for public communication campaigns, are discussed. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Author Keywords

Imagined contact modern racism prejudice reduction narrative persuasion identification with the character

Index Keywords

male female immigrant narrative recipient adult theoretical study persuasive communication process model racism Article human experiment human social status human tissue
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85062029332&doi=10.1002%2fejsp.2509&partnerID=40&md5=4d6b60140c003c87dc5e1baddde55c44
DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2509
ISSN: 00462772
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English