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Explaining The Contact Caveat: The Role Of Social Identity And Intergroup Threat, Jesse Acosta

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This project has attempted to offer an explanation for the differential roles of positive and negative contact, wherein negative contact more strongly predicts changes in prejudice than positive contact (Barlow et al., 2007). In an attempt to replicate and extend on this relationship, intergroup threat theory and social identity theory are incorporated in a model intended to explain this differential relationship. This study measured the attitudes of 227 Mexican Americans toward Caucasians and Mexican Immigrants. This analysis offers a partial replication of Barlow et al., with unfavorable attitudes toward Whites leading to stronger changes when contact was negative. When evaluating …