Primary and secondary generalization effects from Black and gay contact: Longitudinal evidence of between- and within-person effects

Abstract

The contact hypothesis stipulates that contact between social groups can reduce intergroup prejudice, implying that contact changes people (i.e., within-person effects). However, recent research suggests that more intergroup contact might simply be associated with less intergroup prejudice (i.e., between-person effects). We explore primary but also secondary contact effects, whereby contact with one outgroup theoretically improves attitudes towards other uninvolved groups. White, heterosexual Americans' contact with Black and gay people was assessed at four timepoints, 3 weeks apart (T1 N = 456; 51.6% women, M_age = 46.71, SD = 15.30); multilevel modelling parsed between- from within-person contact effects on intergroup outcomes (attitudes, humanization, collective action intentions). We found consistent evidence of predicted primary contact effects, reflecting both within- and between-subjects relations. For secondary contact, between-subjects gay-to-Black associative generalization was observed: greater contact (quantity and quality) with gay people was observed among those expressing more positive Black intergroup outcomes. Within-subjects secondary effects were primarily observed in terms of assessing contact quantity, where more contact with Black people predicted more positive gay intergroup outcomes downstream (i.e., Black-to-gay process generalization). Contrary to recent concerns, the current study promisingly shows that contact with a primary outgroup can change people in ways that generate positive outcomes towards primary and (some) secondary outgroups.