RACIAL EXCLUSION

It is who you know that Counts: Intergroup Contact and Judgments about Race-Based Exclusion

It is who you know that Counts: Intergroup Contact and Judgments about Race-Based Exclusion

Introduction

The social psychology of intergroup relations is the area of psychology that studies the causes and consequences of actions and perceptions that individuals have about themselves and others as members of different social groups. Research of this field and analysis of those behaviours and attitudes arise from specific or preferred membership to a group of people (Zarbatany, 1992, 111). This line of work deals with intergroup behaviour then the subject, i.e. the similarities and uniformities in behavioural patterns that emerge from the perception of self and others in terms of their membership of a social group (Turiel, 1998, 863).

From these basics, the research on intergroup relations has addressed the psychosocial mechanisms that are at the basis of several phenomena, intergroup, in particular those conflicting aspects of the relationship between members of different social categories. At the same time, research has focused the study of conditions and mechanisms associated with the reduction of intergroup antagonism and promoting intergroup relations, supportive, positive and harmonious.

The author in this paper has focused and said that intergroup contacts between individuals can reduce the intensity of discrimination. The conditions and optimal reduction of prejudice and hostility through intergroup contact (intergroup contact no apparent purpose is not likely to change intergroup attitudes):

The existence of an element of cooperation to achieve a common goal.

The official support of the authorities (political and ethnic cultural integration).

Status and equal powers between the groups.

The last forty years, the research relied on the assumption of contact, while demonstrating that its beneficial effects occur only in very unique situations (Smetana, 2006, 255): The intergroup contact increases our knowledge and understanding of the out-group and thus reduces the negative attitudes. Indeed, it is true that ignorance of the out-group is strongly related to the formation of prejudice. However, the intergroup contact can bring out so many similarities that intergroup differences irreconcilable. The generalization of attitudes as a result of intergroup contactShelton, 2005, 397):

In discussion, the author have identified, intergroup contact, based on race and ethnicity, was significantly related to children's ratings of wrongfulness of race based exclusion across the three scenarios, frequency estimations of race-based exclusion across the three scenarios, and attributions of motive to excluding protagonists in two of the three scenarios (McGlothlin, 2005, 227). Although author's scenarios depicted exclusion of African-American children only, our measure of intergroup contact inquired about contact with out-groups in general, rather than focusing specifically on contact with African-Americans. Most studies of intergroup relations with children or adolescents use the heterogeneity or homogeneity of the school as the measure of intergroup contact. In comparison with school composition, in the present study, we used a more focused and, we believe, a more accurate measure of intergroup contact by obtaining individual reports of contact with others based on race and ethnicity. The author stated children with higher intergroup contact are likely to know and ...