The Long-Run Effects of Intergroup Contact? Experimental Evidence from Nigeria

• In Event: Post-Conflict Dynamics

Abstract

Can positive contact between members of groups in conflict produce long-term reductions in prejudice and discrimination? Despite extensive research on intergroup contact, vanishingly little research has explored whether the effects of intergroup contact persist over time. To explore whether contact produces lasting impact, this paper draws on evidence from an education-based, randomized field experiment – the Urban Youth Vocational Training program (UYVT) – with 849 randomly sampled Christian and Muslim young men in riot-prone Kaduna, Nigeria. We surveyed study participants one month and one year after a 16-week intervention in which subjects participated in religiously homogeneous or heterogeneous computer training classes.

One month post-intervention, we find no effects on prejudice but find reductions in behavioral game measures of discriminatory behavior among participants in religiously mixed (vs. homogeneous) classes. One year after the intervention, we find that prejudice is still resistant to change. Reductions in discrimination persist but are smaller and less robust overall one year (vs. one month) post-treatment. Long-run reductions in discrimination across religious lines remain larger and more robust for UYVT participants playing with former classmates. We interpret this finding as evidence for person positivity bias in intergroup contact. Beyond comparing the effects of contact one month and one year later, we explore the mediating effects of ongoing contact in the 11 months between survey waves.

Authors

• Alexandra Scacco, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

• Shana S Warren, New York University