The impact of direct and indirect friendships on intergroup relations.

Abstract

The extended contact hypothesis was tested using a questionnaire completed by 229 first year Psychology students. This theory posits that an individual’s awareness that an in-group member has an outgroup friend can increase positive evaluation of the out-group, thus reducing prejudice (Wright et. al., 1997). The results show that the greater the amount of contact one has with members of the out-group the lower the prejudice, social distance, and intergroup anxiety. Secondly, they show that when one has more direct friends of the out-group the lower the prejudice, social distance and intergroup anxiety. Similarly, the more extended friends one has of the out-group the lower the prejudice, social distance, and intergroup anxiety.