Learning about other cultures is a great start to improving intercultural communication. But many scholars also recommend spending time with members of other cultures and co-
Intergroup contact theory is one prominent idea for addressing intercultural challenges (Allport, 1954). According to this theory, interaction between members of different social groups generates a possibility for more positive attitudes to emerge (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). In other words, if you have contact with people who are different from you, you have a chance to understand and appreciate them better. Although contact theory has some support, researchers also find that mindlessly getting people from different groups together can actually backfire and reinforce cultural stereotypes (Paolini, Harwood, & Rubin, 2010). This happened in many U.S. cities during the 1970s and 1980s, when there was a highly controversial effort to racially integrate schools by busing children to schools on faraway sides of their cities. Even staunch proponents of the plan admitted that racial tensions became worse, not better (Frum, 2000).
Part of the problem is that when different groups get together we often engage in behavioral affirmation—seeing or hearing what we want to see or hear. In other words, if you think teenagers are lazy, then regardless of how hard your fourteen-
So, how do we make successful intergroup interactions more likely? First, intergroup researchers argue that we must have good-
Researchers argue that we must have good 1ontact with people we think are “typical” of their group (Giles, Reid, & Harwood, 2010). If you attended a few fraternity events and got to see Ben and several of his brothers more regularly in their fraternity setting, you might learn that many of them are serious students and that some of them aren’t even into the party scene. We all need to be aware of our own behaviors and biased perceptions when interacting with members of other cultures and groups, so we do not simply confirm our existing expectations.