Meta-Analysis on Mediated Contact and Prejudice

Abstract

This paper presents a meta-analysis of 79 cases (N = 21,857) testing the effectiveness of mediated intergroup contact on prejudice. Positive mediated contact decreased (r = −.23; 95% CI, −.29 to −.17), whereas negative mediated contact increased prejudicial attitudes (r = .31; 95% CI, .24 to .38) and intergroup anxiety and empathy were both significant mediators of these relationships. Furthermore, the data revealed no significant differences between parasocial and vicarious effects, positive and negative mediated-contact effects, or the effects of the duration of mediated-contact stimulus exposure on prejudice. However, the data did reveal experiments to have stronger effects than survey research. These and other results are discussed along with implications, limitations, and future research directions.