Abstract
Research in social psychology has shown that face-to-face contact between majority and ethnic minority group members is one of the most effective tools to reduce intergroup prejudice (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). However, reducing negative phenomena is not the same as promoting positive phenomena. Furthermore, liking other groups is not the most socially relevant outcome that would improve the actual position of minority groups in society (e.g., Dixon et al., 2012; Saguy et al., 2009). In strive for more societal integration, attitudes and behaviours supporting minority group members’ needs and rights may be an important marker of building egalitarian intergroup relations (Tropp & Barlow, 2018). In this vein, social well-being, as the appraisal of the quality of one’s relationships, is a key indicator of a healthy adaptation to increasing cultural diversity (Keyes, 2005). Prosociality includes giving and volunteering to attenuate social disparities as forms of benevolence or activism depending on one’s motivations, whereas solidarity occurs when one’s supportive actions are motivated by a sense of oneness with outgroup members (Louis et al., 2020). Thus, the overarching goal of the present project is to analyse when and how the valence and intensity of offline and online interethnic contact elicit distinct forms of social integration (i.e., social well-being, prosociality, solidarity), with a focus on the role of language in shaping intergroup experiences. IC will be addressed between majority and minority groups and between minorities, considering both adults and adolescents, even in different national contexts. Specifically, the proposed project aim will be four-fold. AIM 1: To investigate when and how the interaction between interethnic contact valence and intensity facilitates or inhibits the development of social integration in the short and long-term across both majority and minority groups of adolescents with different migration backgrounds (first- and second-generations immigrants in Italy) AIM2: To examine whether and how the interaction between interethnic contact valence and intensity predicts social integration attitudes and behaviours from the perspective of native Italian adults, focusing on offline and online contact AIM 3: To tackle the role of language in both online and offline interethnic contact in shaping social integration outcomes from the perspective of Italian adults. Specifically, we will examine the impact of the content and structure of language as indicators of valence and intensity of intergroup exchanges AIM 4: To examine the role of interminority dynamics, that is the extent to which the valence and intensity of contact between two distinct minorities can facilitate social integration Moreover, across all studies, we will explore whether interethnic contact associations are moderated by contextual (i.e., social norms; Green et al., 2020) and individual (e.g., ideologies in favour or against social diversity) factors in the short and long term. Contextual, social and individual factors influencing IC have been mainly tackled in isolation. Thus, little is known about how everyday experiences of minorities and majorities and the effects of these experiences are shaped by the reciprocal influence of contextual, social and individual factors. Cognitive (e.g., moral attributions, common ingroup) and affective (e.g., empathic concern, anger) mediating factors in the relationship between IC and attitudes supporting social integration will also be explored. These projects’ aims will be investigated in four Work Packages, with earlier research leading to inform later research. We have planned 2 studies based on secondary data analysis (of cross-cultural and of longitudinal studies) and 5 new studies (2 cross-sectional, 3 experiments). Across the studies, we will use similar core measures to facilitate the integration of results. During the plan
Dettagli del progetto
Responsabile scientifico: Francesca Prati
Strutture Unibo coinvolte:
Dipartimento di Psicologia "Renzo Canestrari"
Coordinatore:
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna(Italy)
Contributo totale di progetto: Euro (EUR) 200.979,00
Contributo totale Unibo: Euro (EUR) 117.639,00
Durata del progetto in mesi: 24
Data di inizio
15/10/2023
Data di fine:
28/02/2026
