The secondary transfer effect of intergroup contact: attitude and empathy generalisation amongst white South African students at Stellenbosch University

[摘要] ENGLISH SUMMARY: Intergroup contact is established as a powerful strategy for reducing intergroup prejudice. Many advances have been made towards understanding the mechanisms involved in contact's prejudice-reducing effect, not least the emergence of cross-group friendships as an important dimension of contact and affective variables as mediators of intergroup contact effects (Hewstone & Swart, 2011). The present cross-sectional study undertaken amongst white South African students at Stellenbosch University (N = 866), further substantiates the recently advanced notion of the secondary transfer effect of intergroup contact (Lolliot et al., 2013; Pettigrew, 2009), whereby engaging in positive intergroup contact with one outgroup predicts not only positive primary outgroup attitudes, but also generalises towards secondary outgroups uninvolved in the contact situation. Using latent variable structural equation modelling, the present study examined the extent to which the secondary transfer effect of intergroup contact occurs towards both black (African) South Africans (primary outgroup) and coloured South Africans (secondary outgroup) via the mediating mechanisms of attitude and empathy generalisation. Results revealed that cross-group friendships with black (African) South Africans positively and significantly predicted improved attitudes towards coloured South Africans in general, after controlling for prior contact with coloured South Africans (i.e., the secondary transfer effect). These findings were replicated in a secondary outgroup model, in which cross-group friendships with coloured South Africans positively and significantly predicted improved attitudes towards black (African) South Africans in general, after controlling for prior contact with black (African) South Africans. Moreover, the present study found significant evidence for the operation of the secondary transfer effect via affective empathy generalising from the primary outgroup to the secondary outgroup. Cross-group friendships with black (African) South Africans predicted greater perspective-taking towards this primary outgroup, which, in turn, predicted greater affective empathy towards coloured South Africans, as well as a reduction in social distance towards this secondary outgroup. This effect was not observed in the secondary outgroup model. The present study further demonstrates the centrality of attitude generalisation as a powerful mechanism underlying the secondary transfer effect, and provides important avenues for future research regarding empathy generalisation. The present findings moreover offer practical means for shaping intergroup contact interventions aimed at reducing prejudice and promoting intergroup harmony in South Africa.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University