When does superficial intergroup contact reduce anti-foreigner sentiment? Negative contact as an essential condition

Abstract

This article expands intergroup contact research by examining how negative and positive contact experiences outside the private sphere condition the impact of superficial intergroup contact. Analyses show that (1) superficial intergroup contact spurs anti-foreigner sentiment among in-group members with very negative contact experiences, whereas (2) superficial intergroup contact reduces anti-foreigner sentiment among in-group members with positive contact experiences. Thus, the impact of superficial contact is highly conditioned by the characteristics of subjective contact experiences. These results were generated in a fixed-effects regression analysis of 21 countries and 27,404 individuals from the most recent 2014–European Social Survey (ESS) (round 7). In terms of theoretical implications, the findings suggest that the characteristics of contact experiences are essential for the ability of superficial intergroup contact to produce positive outcomes.