Hebel-Sela Shira, Hameiri Boaz, Tropp Linda R, Moore-Berg Samantha L, Saxe Rebecca, Halperin Eran, Bruneau Emile
Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.
The Evens Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
Commun Psychol. 2025 Mar 3;3(1):34. doi: 10.1038/s44271-025-00218-5.
Given the current polarized climate in many parts of the world, finding effective interventions to address psychological factors that drive conflict is critical. Direct, face-to-face contact has the demonstrated potential to stem the tide of intergroup antipathy. However, modern socio-political conflicts often span great physical distances, making direct contact difficult, costly and rare. Programs for "virtual contact" have emerged in recent years, combining text-based computer-mediated communication with live video to extend intergroup contact's benefits to broader audiences. While compelling, studies of such programs are typically conducted in laboratory settings, focusing only on change in outgroup attitudes. The current research tests how a semester-long virtual contact intervention that brings together non-Muslim US American students and Muslim students from the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia shapes varied intergroup processes, across two large-scale field quasi-experiments (combined N = 2886). Compared to before the intervention and a control group, participants who engaged in virtual contact showed greater self-outgroup overlap, improved outgroup attitudes, and less outgroup dehumanization and meta-dehumanization. This research provides evidence that virtual contact can be an effective tool for promoting better intergroup relations.
鉴于当今世界许多地区两极分化的现状，找到有效的干预措施来应对引发冲突的心理因素至关重要。直接的面对面接触已被证明有潜力阻止群体间反感的浪潮。然而，现代社会政治冲突往往跨越很大的地理距离，使得直接接触变得困难、成本高昂且很少见。近年来出现了“虚拟接触”项目，将基于文本的计算机介导通信与实时视频相结合，将群体间接触的益处扩展到更广泛的受众。虽然很有吸引力，但对此类项目的研究通常在实验室环境中进行，只关注对外群体态度的改变。当前的研究通过两项大规模现场准实验（合并样本量N = 2886），测试了一个为期一学期的虚拟接触干预项目，该项目将美国非穆斯林学生与来自中东、北非和东南亚的穆斯林学生聚集在一起如何塑造不同的群体间过程。与干预前和对照组相比，参与虚拟接触的参与者表现出更大的自我与外群体重叠、改善的外群体态度，以及更少的外群体非人化和元非人化。这项研究提供了证据，表明虚拟接触可以成为促进更好的群体间关系的有效工具。
