ABSTRACT
Not all intergroup contact reduces prejudice. While we have focused principally on the likely benefi ts of intergroup contact, some situations in which groups come into contact engender enhanced prejudice. Think of a tense checkpoint on the Palestinian West Bank (Conover, 2006). Neither the Israeli soldiers nor the Palestinian civilians passing through have chosen to be in this situation, and both parties are understandably threatened. The soldiers fear the possibility of a suicide bomber or other attacks upon them. The Palestinians fear humiliation and violence from the gun-toting soldiers. Contrary to the assertions of some critics, no intergroup contact theorist has ever thought that such a stressful contact situation would do anything but exacerbate intergroup confl ict. Note the critical elements of the checkpoint situation. Both parties feel highly threatened. And the context starkly violates Allport’s facilitating factors – involuntary contact that is at best superfi cial between tense interactants of unequal status.
