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The Joint Effects of Imagined Contact and Similarity with the Protagonist of First-Person Narratives Through Identification and Transportation

Mon, May 28, 9:30 to 10:45, Hilton Prague, Floor: L, Amsterdam

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of two experiments carried out in Spain (N = 400) and the Netherlands (N = 392) testing the effects of imagined contact and similarity with a narrative protagonist on attitudes and behavioral intentions related to stigmatized immigrants (Moroccans in Spain and the Polish in the Netherlands). We advance a concept of an optimal reception condition: imagining a positive interaction with a stigmatized immigrant before reading a narrative written by an immigrant with greater similarity to the native audience. In both studies, participants received instructions of imagined inter-group contact (versus control instructions) immediately before reading a first-person narrative of an immigrant with higher or lower similarity. The optimal reception condition induced greater identification and narrative transportation than the reference condition (without imagined contact and a low-similarity protagonist), in turn causing a more positive attitude towards immigration, a higher intention of inter-group contact, and a greater desire to share the message. The findings are discussed in the context of research on narrative persuasion and prejudice reduction through indirect contact.

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