Do they dislike us as much as we think? Positive contact as a potential rectifier of meta-attitude inaccuracy in conflictual intergroup settings

Intergroup meta-attitude inaccuracy—the extent to which perceptions of outgroup views towards the ingroup diverge from what outgroup members actually think—fuels intergroup hostility, yet research on its precursors is scarce. Through four correlational studies, we examined whether and how intergroup contact predicts meta-attitude (in)accuracy in three conflict contexts: Black–White British in the United Kingdom (UK), Turks–Kurds in Turkey, and Catholics–Protestants in Northern Ireland. Regardless of context or status, all groups perceived themselves to be evaluated more negatively by the outgroup than they really were. Positive contact predicted increased meta-attitude accuracy (through increased shared reality) which was, in turn, associated with more positive outgroup attitudes. The role of negative contact and affective mediators (such as intergroup anxiety and fear) was not consistent and depended on group and context. The use of positive intergroup contact as a potential rectifier of overestimated negative meta-attitudes in conflict contexts is discussed.