Testing a contact intervention based on intergroup friendship between Roma and non-Roma Hungarians: reducing bias through institutional support in a non-supportive societal context

Kende, Anna and Tropp, Linda and Lantos, Nóra Anna (2017) Testing a contact intervention based on intergroup friendship between Roma and non-Roma Hungarians: reducing bias through institutional support in a non-supportive societal context. JOURNAL OF APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, 47 (1). pp. 47-55. ISSN 0021-9029 (print); 1559-1816 (online)

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Abstract

Although intergroup friendships have been shown to reduce prejudice, little research has considered whether interventions fostering intergroup friendship would be effective in highly prejudicial contexts. We conducted a quasi-experiment (N = 61) to test whether a contact-based intervention based on intergroup friendship could reduce bias against Roma people among non-Roma Hungarians. Participants in the contact condition engaged in a face-to-face interaction with a Roma person, and responded to questions involving mutual self-disclosure. Through pre- and post-test questionnaires, we observed significant positive change in attitudes and contact intentions among participants in the contact condition, while these effects were not observed among participants in the control condition. Positive change was moderated by perceived institutional norms, which corroborates the potential of contact-based interventions.

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