Perceived diversity, threat, and attitudes towards immigrants: the mitigating role of cross-group friendships and empathy

Little is known about whether the benefits of intergroup contact extend to contexts (e.g., a diverse underdeveloped township) likely to prove demanding for improved intergroup relations. There is a need for further research in these contexts on the potential inhibitors of contact (such as diversity and threat) and their effects. Perceived social diversity has been implicated in the deterioration of intergroup relations. This is particularly salient in the context of immigrant relations, where anti-immigrant sentiments are characterized by perceived threat and lower outgroup trust. Diversity can, however, have an indirect positive effect on outgroup attitudes, via intergroup contact, which reliably predicts lower perceived threat and prejudice. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that empathy could mitigate negative attitudes towards immigrants. We investigated the relationship between perceived neighbourhood diversity, cross-group friendships, realistic and symbolic threat, empathic responding, trust, and outgroup orientation within the volatile context of Black (African) South Africans’ relations with African immigrants. Survey data were collected from South Africans (N = 317) living in a township. Structural equation modelling showed that perceived diversity was significantly positively associated with both realistic threat (which was significantly negatively associated with outgroup trust) and cross-group friendships (which was significantly negatively associated with realistic threat). There was a significant indirect association between cross-group friendships and positive orientation towards African immigrants via empathic responding towards African immigrants. These findings suggest that cross-group friendships and empathy might mitigate the negative impact of diversity and threat on attitudes towards immigrants, even in this demanding context.