Stigma and Intergroup Contact Among Members of Minority and Majority Status Groups

For decades, researchers in the social sciences have sought to identify strategies that would be effective in reducing prejudice and promoting positive intergroup relations. In his monograph, The Reduction of Intergroup Tensions, Williams (1947) suggested that the “mere giving of objective general information” (p. 64) about an outgroup would likely do little to reduce intergroup hostility. Instead, he proposed that certain kinds of contact between groups could facilitate the development of positive intergroup attitudes. Allport (1954) concurred with this view, stating that contact under optimal conditions could reduce intergroup prejudice and improve relations between groups.