Read on Twitter
Congratulations to @salma_mousa_ on the publication of her landmark study on the effects of intergroup contact on Iraqi soccer teams! https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6505/866
.@betsylevypaluck and I had the honor of providing our thoughts on this experiment and the questions it points us toward investigating next https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6505/769.full
I’d like to emphasize what an honor it is to give my perspective on this piece. As an early career grad student, I’ve been inspired by the ambition, rigor, & heart of Salma’s work. I read it & my mind soars through all the possibilities for testing scientific theory in the world
.@betsylevypaluck summarized our thoughts in a thread this morning. I’d like to expand on one of our points which identifies a broader pattern in intergroup contact research of using minority group members as treatments for the prejudice of majority group members. https://twitter.com/betsylevyp/status/1294278324563451905
There’s something dehumanizing and ethically misguided about this common approach of using a minority group as an intervention. Why is it the minority group’s burden to use their bodies and experiences to cure prejudice directed toward them?
This approach is especially troubling when outcomes of the minority group are not collected. We cannot even properly weigh the risks associated with the method because we don’t have the necessary evidence.
Furthermore, the positive effects of contact on majority group members seem modest at best. @betsylevypaluck, @ronchuli, @donaldpgreen and I meta-analyzed the last 12 years of intergroup contact experiments and find evidence of small positive effects on majority group members.
So, does the potential reward outweigh the potential risks? I don’t think we can say. And in the meantime, we continue with our standard practice of using minority groups in this way.
This resonates now as anti-racist discourse sweeps the nation. All over we are seeing marginalized people burdened with sharing their experiences for the betterment of the larger group, department, organization, university, etc.
I believe in the potential of intergroup contact as a prejudice intervention. I think we need to continue our rigorous investigation of it but explore both sides equally and aim to design experiments with similar levels of risk and reward on each side of the interaction.
In many contexts, like the post-conflict one studied by Salma, constraints make it impossible to explore both sides. We need to read and learn from Salma’s experiences so we can continue to push our understanding of all sides of the contact hypothesis !
This was my first Twitter thread! Thank you @betsylevyp for the encouragement to share my thoughts and thank you @salma_mousa_ for doing this work and welcoming our commentary!
