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When Groups Meet

The Dynamics of Intergroup Contact

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  • Price: $49.95 $44.96
  • Hardback: 200 pages
  • Published: June 2010
  • ISBN: 978-1-84169-765-9
  • Publisher: Psychology Press

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Part of the Essays in Social Psychology series

Research and theory on intergroup contact have become one of the fastest advancing and most exciting fields in social psychology in recent years. The work is exciting because it combines basic social psychological concerns -- human interaction, situational influences on behavior -- with an effective means of improving intergroup relations at a time when the world is witnessing widespread intergroup hatred and strife.

This volume provides an overview of this rapidly progressing area of investigation – its origins and early work, its current status and recent developments, along with criticisms of this work and suggestions for future directions. It covers a range of research findings involving contact between groups drawn from the authors’ extensive meta-analysis of 515 published studies on intergroup contact . This meta-analysis, together with the authors’ renowed research on intergroup contact, provides a solid foundation and broad overview of the field, to which we will add discussions of research extensions and emerging directions.

When Groups Meet is a rich, comprehensive overview of classic and contemporary work on intergroup contact, as well as providing insights into where this work is headed in the future. For research specialists, this volume not only serves as a sourcebook for research and theory on intergroup contact, it also provides the entire 515-item bibliography from the meta-analysis. The clear structure and accessible writing style will also appeal to advanced undergraduate and graduate students in psychology and other social sciences.

Table of Contents

1. Origins of Intergroup Contact Theory. 2. Does Intergroup Contact Typically Reduce Prejudice? 3. Do Intergroup Contact Effects Generalize? 4. When Does Intergroup Contact Reduce Prejudice? 5. Does Group Status Moderate Contact Effects? 6. How Does Intergroup Contact Reduce Prejudice? 7. Does Intergroup Contact Reduce All Types of Prejudices? 8. Contact Effects and the Role of Cross-Group Friendships. 9. Further Developments in Intergroup Contact Theory. 10. Criticisms of Intergroup Contact Theory and Research. 11. Future Directions for Studies of Intergroup Contact.