Fiona White

Prejudice toward people with a disability remains an unchallenged global problem. This cross‐sectional study investigated online intergroup contact involving university students without disability ( N = 107), participating within a social program aimed at fostering the social inclusion of people with a disability. We tested two separate path models, where positive and negative online contact were the predictors (controlling for positive and negative offline contact), sense of community was the mediator, while social distance from, and attitudes toward people with disability, were the outcome variables. Results showed that greater positive (but not negative) online contact was associated with more positive evaluations and lower social distance toward people with a disability, via heightened sense of community.

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated anti-Chinese sentiments, demonstrating an urgent need for effective prejudice reduction interventions. Study 1 tested the relationship between contact and prejudice and its mediators toward Chinese people in Australia ( N = 362). As predicted, positive contact was significantly associated with less prejudice and, reliably, intergroup anxiety had the strongest mediation effect in this relationship. In Study 2, European Australians ( N = 161) were randomly assigned to an intergroup or intragroup (control) contact interaction, delivered vicariously via audio or text. As hypothesized, vicarious intergroup contact significantly reduced prejudice and negative emotions toward Chinese people. Moreover, text-based vicarious contact led to significantly lower intergroup anxiety and negative intergroup emotions than audio-based contact. No interaction effects of vicarious contact and delivery mode were found. Overall, these studies support direct and vicarious text-based contact as effective strategies for reducing prejudice in a global crisis and improving attitudes toward Chinese people.