Positive and Negative Asymmetry in Intergroup Contact: Its Impact on Linguistic Forms of Communication and Physiological Responses

Informazioni relative al progetto

PNAIC

ID dell’accordo di sovvenzione: 790318

DOI

10.3030/790318

Progetto chiuso

Data della firma CE 6 Marzo 2018

Data di avvio 1 Giugno 2018

Data di completamento 5 Giugno 2020

Finanziato da

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Costo totale

€ 183 454,80

Contributo UE

€ 183 454,80

Coordinato da

THE CHANCELLOR, MASTERS AND SCHOLARS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PNAIC (Positive and Negative Asymmetry in Intergroup Contact: Its Impact on Linguistic Forms of Communication and Physiological Responses)

Periodo di rendicontazione: 2018-06-01 al 2020-05-31

Sintesi del contesto e degli obiettivi generali del progetto

The current increasing mobility between countries has highlighted the urgent issue of the relationship between host majority groups and ethnic minorities of migrant people in Western societies. Research has consistently shown that positive face-to-face contact between majority and minority group members is one of the most effective strategies to reduce intergroup discrimination. However, contact is not always positive. Intergroup encounters may be marked by perceived threat and hostility, actually leading to increased intergroup discrimination. With this regard, research to tackle the effects of negative contact and its interaction with positive contact is still needed.
We focused on the relationships between majority group and migrant people in diverse settings, because social integration and the quest for equality represent fundamental challenges for contemporary Western societies in which not just discrimination toward migrants still persist, but it even increased powered by the rise of xenophobic and nationalistic attitudes in the last decade. In this social climate, the need to understand, and attenuate, social biases surrounding how we think about, and behave towards, other ethnic groups is urgently needed to promote equality, equity, and inclusion. Moreover, if before the Covid-19 pandemic, these social issues represented crucial disputes of contemporary societies, it is now even more the case that we must address social integration and intergroup equality to promote intergroup cooperation and harmony.
This project provided a novel contribution: (a) on the consequences of the interaction between positive and negative contact on intergroup discrimination and social integration, considering the perspectives of not only majority groups in Europe countries, but also currently salient minority groups of immigrants such as African people in Italy and Asians in UK. The impact of different valence contact was tested in the short-term (experimental and diary studies) and long-terms (longitudinal study) on unintended pervasive behaviours, such as linguistic bias, integrating Supervisor’s and Researcher’s expertise. The Researcher also gained (b) new expertise in social neuroscience by collaborating with Prof. K. Watkins’s lab group in Oxford, to test the physiological reactions to intergroup contact. Evidence of the project were presented at international scientific conferences and one public talk. A first impactful publication in Journal of Experimental Social Psychology is also available.

Lavoro eseguito dall’inizio del progetto fino alla fine del periodo coperto dalla relazione e principali risultati finora ottenuti

During the first year of the research project, we conducted two experimental studies (N= 372) showing that different combinations of recalled actual experiences of both positive and negative intergroup encounters lead majority group members to describe migrants in a more favorable way that contributes to build positive intergroup relationships. Results of the studies were illustrated in the open access publication (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2020.103970).
Secondly, we got Oxford University, Research Ethics Approval (R61497/RE001, on the 1st March 2019) and started the first wave of data collection of the longitudinal study (N= 400) with African migrant people living in the North-Centre part of Italy. In this study, we showed that negative contact with the majority group plays a stronger role in inhibiting acculturation preferences and facilitating collective action of migrant people in these effects are not moderated by positive contact.
During the same period, statistic training on longitudinal analysis and R programming and a collaboration with Prof. K. Watkins’s social neuroscience lab group at Oxford University started to improve the Researcher’s skills in these areas. At the end of the first year, evidence of experimental studies were presented at the international conference of the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists 2019; at the SASP-SPSSI Group Meeting entitled “Advances in Intergroup Contact Research”; and at the European Association of Social Psychology Medium Size Meeting “Intergroup Communication”.
During the second year of the research project, the second and third waves of the data collection of the longitudinal study took place.
In December 2019 the Researcher was invited to present her research at the Queen’s University of Belfast (UK) and there visited Prof. R. Turner to further implement the experimental studies in social neuroscience.
At the beginning of 2020, the Researcher organized a talk with social workers on intergroup contact at the public centre for migrant people in Bologna (Italy).
After that, the Researcher visited Prof. O. Christ at Fern University of Hagen (Germany) for two months to analyse already collected diary data based on Prof. Hewstone and Prof. Christ’s previous joint-project. This diary study (N= 744 majority group and 582 minority group) involved both White British and Asian British people living in UK. We showed the roles and interaction between contextual (neighbourhood diversity), social (ingroup norms) and personality traits (social dominance orientation) in predicting daily positive and negative contact of both groups.
During the last months of the project that unfortunately correspond to the increased pandemic emergency in Europe, studies in neuroscience could not be conducted, but we focused on analysing and writing results of other studies reported.

Progressi oltre lo stato dell’arte e potenziale impatto previsto (incluso l’impatto socioeconomico e le implicazioni sociali più ampie del progetto fino ad ora)

Meta-analytic evidence showed that positive contact is associated with reduced prejudice and improved cohesion between groups. The efficacy of intergroup contact hence has policy implications for wider debates about diversity, multiculturalism, and social conflict; but doubt has recently been cast on its potential in applied settings because whilst contact can be positive (e.g. having outgroup friends) it can also be negative (e.g. being bullied by an ethnic outgroup member). In two experimental studies, we provided initial answers to what is the net effect of a mix of both positive and negative recalled contact between groups on pervasive behaviours such as linguistic bias. This evidence can help to develop effective interventions and policy advice to use language in daily speech but also social media to favour social inclusion by highlighting the variety of positive and negative intergroup experiences. Moreover, it gives hope to policy makers to build inclusive society because through language, it is thus possible to reduce negative intergroup contact in diverse settings where it might not be sufficient to increase positive intergroup contact. We examined what possible long-term consequences might result from the impact of positive and negative contact of migrant people with majority group members in their integration process as well as collective action to gain rights in the host country. This evidence suggests that policy makers should focus on establishing any kind of contact within diverse groups and communities, thus not just positive but also negative contact is beneficial for minority groups to gain their rights and autonomy by eliciting collective action. Moreover, in a one-week diary study, we investigated the antecedents of positive separately negative contact and their interaction, by considering personality traits, contextual and social factors. This evidence can inform about ways to promote only intergroup contact across different groups.

Longitudinal Study Presentation and Participant Information Sheet