Skip to main content
Original Article

Interdependence in Mediated Intergroup Contact

Exploring the Common Ingroup Identity Model in a Fictional Narrative

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000273

Abstract. Mediated intergroup contact and extended contact hypothesis research shows that observing a positive intergroup interaction can result in improved attitudes toward the outgroup. This experiment tested the common ingroup identity model and how the creation of a superordinate identity among characters in a television narrative influences viewers’ willingness to interact with outgroup members and attitudes toward the outgroup. Results reveal that self-efficacy, anxiety, and inclusion of the outgroup in the self mediated the relationship between exposure to narratives featuring intergroup interdependence and both positive attitudes toward and greater willingness to interact with the outgroup. That is, participants who watched a narrative featuring high levels of intergroup teamwork reported increased feelings of self-efficacy when considering future outgroup interactions, which was associated with lower levels of outgroup anxiety. Lower levels of anxiety were then associated with increased inclusion of the outgroup in the self, which was ultimately associated with more positive attitudes toward and greater willingness to interact with the outgroup. These results suggest that, even when comparing the effects of two narratives that portray an identical, positive outcome, positive effects on attitudes toward and willingness to interact with outgroup members are stronger when ingroup and outgroup members display interdependence. This research represents a step toward understanding the ways that the common ingroup identity model might help explain the extended contact hypothesis and the mechanisms by which narratives can affect attitudes toward and willingness to interact with outgroup members.

References

  • Allport, G. W. (1954). The nature of prejudice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Amodio, D. M., & Devine, P. G. (2006). Stereotyping and evaluation in implicit race bias: Evidence for independent constructs and unique effects on behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 652–661. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.4.652 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Aron, A., Aron, E. N., & Smollan, D. (1992). Inclusion of other in the self scale and the structure of interpersonal closeness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 596–612. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.63.4.596 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37, 122–147. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.37.2.122 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Bandura, A. (1988). Self-efficacy conception of anxiety. Anxiety Research, 1, 77–98. https://doi.org/10.1080/10615808808248222 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Brewer, M. B. (1996). When contact is not enough: Social identity and intergroup cooperation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 20(3–4), 291–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(96)00020-X First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Cameron, L., Rutland, A., Brown, R., & Douch, R. (2006). Changing children’s intergroup attitudes toward refugees: Testing different models of extended contact. Child Development, 77, 1208–1219. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00929.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Cohen, J. (2001). Defining identification: A theoretical look at the identification of audiences with media characters. Mass Communication & Society, 4, 245–264. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327825MCS0403_01 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Crisp, R. J., Stone, C. H., & Hall, N. R. (2006). Recategorization and subgroup identification: Predicting and preventing threats from common ingroups. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 230–243. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205280908 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Dixon, T. L. (2017). Good guys are still always in white? Positive change and continued misrepresentation of race and crime on local television news. Communication Research, 44, 775–792. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650215579223 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Dovidio, J. F., Gaertner, S. L., & Saguy, T. (2007). Another view of “we”: Majority and minority group perspectives on a common ingroup identity. European Review of Social Psychology, 18, 296–330. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463280701726132 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Eller, A., & Abrams, D. (2003). ‘Gringos’ in Mexico: Cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of language school-promoted contact on intergroup bias. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 6, 55–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430203006001012 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Eller, A., & Abrams, D. (2006). A people’s entente cordiale? The role of implicit attitude in the relationship between English-French contact, levels of categorization, and explicit intergroup attitudes. Current Research in Social Psychology, 11, 92–110. http://www.uiowa.edu/%7Egrpproc/crisp/crisp11_7.pdf First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Esses, V. M., & Dovidio, J. F. (2002). The role of emotions in determining willingness to engage in intergroup contact. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28, 1202–1214. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672022812006 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Fujioka, Y. (1999). Television portrayals and African-American stereotypes: Examination of television effects when direct contact is lacking. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 76, 52–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909907600105 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Gaertner, S. L., & Dovidio, J. F. (2000). Reducing intergroup bias: The common ingroup identity model. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Anastasio, P. A., Bachman, B. A., & Rust, M. C. (1993). The Common Ingroup Identity Model: Recategorization and the reduction of intergroup bias. European Review of Social Psychology, 4, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/14792779343000004 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Gaertner, S. L., Mann, J. A., Dovidio, J. F., Murrell, A. J., & Pomare, M. (1990). How does cooperation reduce intergroup bias? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 692–704. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.59.4.692 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Gaertner, S. L., Rust, M. C., Dovidio, J. F., Bachman, B. A., & Anastasio, P. A. (1994). The contact hypothesis the role of a common ingroup identity on reducing intergroup bias. Small Group Research, 25, 224–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/1046496494252005 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Greenland, K., & Brown, R. (1999). Categorization and intergroup anxiety in contact between British and Japanese nationals. European Journal of Social Psychology, 29, 503–521. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0992(199906)29:4<503::AID-EJSP941>3.0.CO;2-Y First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Harwood, J. (2010). The contact space: A novel framework for intergroup contact research. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 29, 147–177. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X09359520 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York, NY: Guilford Press. First citation in articleGoogle Scholar

  • Hornsey, M. J., & Hogg, M. A. (2000). Subgroup relations: A comparison of mutual intergroup differentiation and common ingroup identity models of prejudice reduction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 242–256. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167200264010 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Houlette, M. A., Gaertner, S. L., Johnson, K. M., Banker, B. S., Riek, B. M., & Dovidio, J. F. (2004). Developing a more inclusive social identity: An elementary school intervention. Journal of Social Issues, 60, 35–55. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0022-4537.2004.00098.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Joyce, N., & Harwood, J. (2014). Improving intergroup attitudes through televised vicarious intergroup contact: Social cognitive processing of ingroup and outgroup information. Communication Research, 41, 627–643. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650212447944 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Kent, G. (1987). Self-efficacious control over reported physiological, cognitive and behavioural symptoms of dental anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 25(5), 341–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(87)90012-X First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Lee, C. (1984). Accuracy of efficacy and outcome expectations in predicting performance in a simulated assertiveness task. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 8, 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01315096 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Mastro, D. E., & Behm-Morawitz, E. (2005). Latino representation on primetime television. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 82, 110–130. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900508200108 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Mastro, D. E., Behm-Morawitz, E., & Kopacz, M. A. (2008). Exposure to television portrayals of Latinos: The implications of aversive racism and social identity theory. Human Communication Research, 34, 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00311.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Mazziotta, A., Mummendey, A., & Wright, S. C. (2011). Vicarious intergroup contact effects: Applying social-cognitive theory to intergroup contact research. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 14, 255–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430210390533 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Moyer-Gusé, E., Dale, K. R., & Ortiz, M. (2019). Reducing prejudice through narratives: An examination of the mechanisms of vicarious intergroup contact. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 31(4), 185–195. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000249 First citation in articleLinkGoogle Scholar

  • Ortiz, M., & Harwood, J. (2007). A social cognitive theory approach to the effects of mediated intergroup contact on intergroup attitudes. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 51(4), 615–631. https://doi.org/10.1080/08838150701626487 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Otten, S., & Moskowitz, G. B. (2000). Evidence for implicit evaluative in-group bias: Affect-biased spontaneous trait inference in a minimal group paradigm. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 36(1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.1006/jesp.1999.1399 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Park, S. Y. (2012). Mediated intergroup contact: concept explication, synthesis, and application. Mass Communication and Society, 15, 136–159. https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2011.558804 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Plant, E. A., & Devine, P. G. (2003). The antecedents and implications of interracial anxiety. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 790–801. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029006011 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Ramasubramanian, S., & Oliver, M. B. (2007). Activating and suppressing hostile and benevolent racism: Evidence for comparative media stereotyping. Media Psychology, 9, 623–646. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213260701283244 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Seate, A. A., & Mastro, D. (2017). Exposure to immigration in the news: The impact of group-level emotions on intergroup behavior. Communication Research, 44, 817–840. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093650215570654 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Stephan, W. G., & Stephan, C. W. (1985). Intergroup anxiety. Journal of Social Issues, 41, 157–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1985.tb01134.x First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Turner, R. N., Hewstone, M., & Voci, A. (2007). Reducing explicit and implicit outgroup prejudice via direct and extended contact: The mediating role of self-disclosure and intergroup anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 369–388. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.3.369 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Vezzali, L., Hewstone, M., Capozza, D., Giovannini, D., & Wölfer, R. (2014). Improving intergroup relations with extended and vicarious forms of indirect contact. European Review of Social Psychology, 25, 314–389. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2014.982948 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar

  • Wright, S. C., Aron, A., McLaughlin-Volpe, T., & Ropp, S. A. (1997). The extended contact effect: Knowledge of cross-group friendships and prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 73–90. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.73 First citation in articleCrossrefGoogle Scholar