Integration Endorsement Improves Outgroup Attitudes: An Electronic-Contact Experiment

Social cohesion and mutual intergroup acceptance are major goals that policy-makers strive for in culturally diverse societies. This research integrates acculturation theory and the contact hypothesis to form a new strategy to promote positive intergroup relations between majority and minority members. Here, an electronic intercultural contact intervention was deployed to enhance Israeli majority students’ level of Integration endorsement toward Israeli Ethiopian minority members. The study findings revealed that, compared to majority controls, participants in the intervention condition reported a greater decrease in intergroup bias and anxiety in the short- (one week) and long- (six weeks) terms. A mediation effect of intergroup anxiety was also found; the intervention reduced majority members’ intergroup anxiety in the short-term which was related to reduced long-term intergroup bias. These encouraging findings highlight that carefully designed cooperative electronic-contact programs tailored to promote individuals’ endorsement of the Integrationist orientation, can offer an efficacious route to acculturation researchers interested in promoting this strategy, improving in turn intergroup relations.