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Questioning the potential of tourism‐related imagined contact in improving interethnic relations in Türkiye
Abstract
With three experimental studies, we used the imagined contact hypothesis to investigate the efficiency of tourist‐host contacts in promoting positive interethnic attitudes in Türkiye. Participants (ethnic Turks) were asked to envision themselves as tourists, interacting with a local minority member (either a Kurd or an Armenian) in the imagined destination place. We manipulated three variables: contact type (standard vs. friendship‐fostering contact), tourism form (domestic vs. international), and tourist‐host hierarchy. Study 1 ( N = 261) and Study 3 ( N = 284) examined attitudes toward Kurds, whereas Study 2 ( N = 324) focused on views toward Armenians. An imagined interethnic contact with friendship potential in the domestic tourism setting (compared to an imagined trip without contact) produced higher approach intentions toward Kurds and Armenians, greater support for multiculturalism, and more positive affect toward Armenians. Surprisingly, when tourism‐related imagined interactions were hierarchical (i.e., tourist‐service personnel interaction) rather than egalitarian (i.e., tourist–resident interaction), they elicited more support for multiculturalism and higher approach intentions toward Kurds. Based on our findings, we propose tourism‐based imagined contact as a novel intervention technique for promoting more harmonious interethnic relations, particularly by incorporating friendship potential.
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To reduce prejudice and to promote intergroup harmony and equality, the imagined intergroup contact technique, based on the mental simulation of an encounter with an outgroup member, has been proposed. Though a substantial body of research has provided support for the efficacy of imagined intergroup contact in prejudice reduction, an alternative strand of research has raised questions about its effectiveness. In this experiment, we combined imagined intergroup contact with cultural humility, that is, an other-oriented, humble approach toward people with different cultural backgrounds, recognizing status and power imbalances and privileges. Specifically, we tested whether instructions aimed at eliciting cultural humility during imagined contact boosted its effectiveness in reducing prejudice and promoting future contact intentions, compared to a standard imagined contact condition and to a control imagination task. Intergroup anxiety was tested as a mediator of the effects of culturally humble imagined contact on reduced prejudice and on future contact intentions. We found that culturally humble imagined contact, compared to the two other conditions, reduced intergroup anxiety and yielded indirect effects on reduced prejudice and increased future contact intentions. The findings will be discussed by focusing on the integration of cultural humility in prejudice reduction techniques based on intergroup contact.
Imagined contact is a widely-used methodology for decreasing prejudice. Recently, however, the effectiveness and replicability of imagined contact have been debated. To the extent that imagined contact is theoretically a valuable intervention when actual contact is absent or less feasible, previous intergroup contact experiences presumably moderate the efficacy of imagined contact. The present investigation found that imagined contact effects were stronger among heterosexuals with infrequent (vs. frequent) previous contact with gays, improving their intergroup emotions and attitudes (Study 1, N = 261). In contrast, there were no such effects of imagined contact with Muslims among non-Muslims (Study 2, N = 320). These findings highlight the potential for moderators to impact the efficacy of experimental contact simulations. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Research on the interplay between inclusive norms and intergroup contact on improving intergroup orientations has yielded conflicting results, suggesting either that an experience of personal contact is necessary to have a positive effect of inclusive norms or that such personal experience is not always necessary. To clarify this issue, across four studies (N = 835), we investigated the influence of inclusive norms on positive intergroup orientations as a function of personal experiences of intergroup contact. Study 1 demonstrated that inclusive norms are more strongly correlated with experiences of personal contact with outgroups with whom opportunities of contact are more (i.e., immigrants) than less (i.e., refugees) frequent. Study 2 provided experimental evidence for this finding showing that inclusive norms increase prejudiced nationals’ willingness to engage in future contact with immigrants but not with refugees, suggesting that conformity to inclusive norms depends on varying contact opportunities with the outgroups. Studies 3 and 4 confirmed that prejudiced nationals conformed to inclusive norms specifically when experienced positive contact with a refugee (experimentally induced with the imagined contact paradigm), compared with no contact (Study 3) or negative contact (Study 4). We discuss the implications of these findings for research on intergroup contact, social influence, and intergroup relations.
Despite studies examining political ideology, group dehumanization, and intergroup contact as predictors of intergroup support and affect, research on their interplay in shaping such outcomes has been limited. In fact, considering the possibility that conservatives might view immigrants in various ways (as more or less human) is important to understand the impact of interventions (positive imagined contact) on intergroup relations. The results of two experiments (N = 671) with U.S. citizens in relation to two outgroups—Muslim immigrants in Experiment 1 and Mexican immigrants in Experiment 2—consistently showed that imagined positive contact condition (vs. control/no contact condition) influenced intergroup support (i.e., in both experiments) and positive emotions (i.e., in Experiment 2) more for individuals who endorsed a conservative ideology and scored high for dehumanizing immigrants. Participants’ willingness to attribute positive emotions to outgroup members ultimately explained the observed effects. In this research, we discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for intergroup relations and outgroup dehumanization.
How people perceive outgroup prosocial behaviors is an important but under-researched
aspect of intergroup relations. In three experiments conducted in two cultural
contexts (Italy and Kosovo) and with two different populations (adolescents and
adults; N = 586), we asked participants to imagine being offered help by an outgroup
versus ingroup member. Participants attributed fewer prosocial motives to and were
less willing to accept help from the outgroup (vs. ingroup) member. This was particularly
true for highly prejudiced participants and when the outgroup was described
negatively. Participants' perceptions of the outgroup helper's prosocial motives and
expected quality of the interaction with the helper mediated the effect of helper's
group membership on willingness to accept the help (Experiment 3). We discuss the
theoretical and practical implications of these findings for intergroup relations.
K E Y W O R D S:
altruistic motives, empathy, ingroup, outgroup, prejudice, prosocial behavior
This research investigated whether ingroup norm moderates the effect of positive or prosocial interactions on the understanding of intergroup prosocial behaviors. Among four experiments in three different cultural samples (US Americans, Kosovan-Serbs, and Kosovan-Albanians; N = 808), results showed that participants attributed fewer prosocial motives and reported less willingness to accept the help when the helper was an outgroup than an ingroup member. However, these effects were weaker or non-significant in the tolerant norm condition, as compared to intolerant norm or control conditions. In addition, participants were more willing to interact with the outgroup (vs. ingroup) helper in the tolerant norm condition, as compared to intolerant norm or control conditions. Finally, normative expectations, the attribution of prosocial motives to the helper, and the anticipated quality of the interaction with the helper sequentially explained the observed effects. The theoretical and practical implications of these results for intergroup help and intergroup contact literature are discussed.
Keywords: intergroup relations, prosocial behavior, positive contact, ingroup norms, empathy, altruism
Today, physical and psychological barriers can reduce opportunities for the type of direct face-to-face intergroup contact first identified by Gordon Allport (1954). Consequently, social psychological researchers have identified, developed and tested a burgeoning array of different forms of indirect contact, including, extended contact, Electronic- or E-contact, imagined contact, vicarious contact and parasocial contact. In addition to providing a critical review of each of these forms, we argue that indirect contact is more than just a simple ‘replacement’ for direct contact, but instead has the potential to improve intergroup relations for both minority and majority members in its own right. Relatedly, we acknowledge that indirect contact occurs within specific normative contexts embodied in legislation, institutions, and media and political contents. In fact, we recognize that indirect contact requires an integrative understanding of the role of intergroup norms and affective processes in order to effectively achieve public policy objectives to optimize effects on prejudice reduction.
Keywords: intergroup contact, extended contact, E-contact, imagined contact, anxiety, prejudice
Imagined contact has been argued to reduce prejudice. Although extant research supports this argument, replication attempts have been unsuccessful. To resolve conflicting evidence from previous studies, this study examined the effect of imagined contact on explicit and implicit prejudice against Kurds and Syrians in Turkey. Using data from 335 Turkish undergraduate students, the moderating role of ethnic and national identification in the imagined contact effect was tested. Results indicated that imagined contact did not reduce prejudice, and in-group identification did not have a moderating effect, even after controlling for actual contact. These findings call for a theoretical refinement to the imagined contact hypothesis and emphasize the need for further research to advance our understanding of when imagined contact works.
This article introduces a collection of articles that explore the role of religion (Sunni Islam) in the transformation of Turkey under the reign of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, AKP). This special issue argues that the Turkish understanding of secularism was also one of the building blocks or/and constitutive elements of Turkey’s modernisation until the rise of the AKP. Currently, however, it seems that religion has become a new or re-born element of the new Turkey and has been transforming many areas such as: the media, the Kurdish issue, implementation of the rule of law, foreign policy and gender issues. This special issue aims to scrutinise the question: how does a religion-based transformation in Turkey influence the raison d’etat of the state?
Objective: Imagined intergroup contact has been shown to be an effective tool to improve intergroup relationships in various settings, yet the application of the strategy among minority group members and across cultures has been scarce. The current research aimed to test imagined contact effects on minority group members’ acculturation strategies (contact participation and culture maintenance), perceived discrimination, feelings of belongingness, and social acceptance across three studies conducted in the United Kingdom (Study 1) and Turkey (Studies 2 and 3). Method: The sample consisted of Eastern Europeans in Study 1 (N = 63) and Kurds in Study 2 and 3 (N = 66 and 210, respectively). Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (control vs. imagined contact) and completed measures of acculturation, perceived discrimination, general belongingness, and social acceptance. Results: Findings showed that while imagined contact significantly reduced perceived discrimination and culture maintenance, and increased contact participation and social acceptance among Eastern Europeans (Study 1), it reduced social acceptance and contact participation among Kurds recruited from a conflict-ridden homogeneous setting (Study 2). With a larger and more heterogeneous sample of Kurds (Study 3), these effects occurred only among those with higher ingroup identification. Moreover, in all studies social acceptance mediated the effects of imagined contact on contact participation and perceived discrimination. Discussion. Findings offer important insights about the use of the imagined contact strategy among minority group members and imply the need to take into account the context-dependent nature of contact strategies.
We investigated the role of positive and negative contact on outgroup attitudes, collective action tendencies, and psychological well-being among minority (Kurds) and majority (Turks) group members in a conflict area (N = 527), testing ingroup identification, relative deprivation, and perceived discrimination as potential mediators in these associations. Contrary to recent research studies demonstrating the superiority of negative contact effects, positive contact was generally a stronger determinant of the dependent variables, directly and indirectly, in both groups, although negative contact also had some direct and indirect associations with the outcomes. Findings highlight the need to incorporate the role of positive and negative contact to provide a full understanding of the potential benefits/costs of the contact strategy in conflict settings.
The main purpose of this study is to determine whether the tourist’s social distance perceptions towards the local people are reducing thanks to tourism and the causes of tourist’s social distance perceptions. The Social Distance Scale of Bogardus was employed to prepare the questionnaires that were used in the study. Domestic tourists (n = 400) visiting the Southeastern Anatolia Region (before and after their visit) and people who had not visited the region (n = 263) before were asked to complete the questionnaire. The tourists’ social distance towards the local people has changed positively.
Past research has ascertained the benefits of involuntary, “forced” exposure to positive imagined contact. This research explored determinants and consequences of actively chosen imagined contact in a setting of entrenched intergroup conflict. In Study 1, when given an unvalenced visualisation scenario enabling participants to steer the visualisation in any direction they wanted, Turkish Cypriots visualised an intergroup interaction nondistinguishable in quality to that of those assigned to a positive scenario. In Study 2, when asked to actively choose between visualising a positive or a negative intergroup interaction, Turkish Cypriots disproportionally preferred positive over negative contact. The chosen visualisation reflected mood and valenced confirmation biases and resulted in virtuous (vs. vicious) effects on group-level outcomes. These findings shed a first light on the psychological underpinnings of volitional intergroup imagery and indicate that intergroup imagery is a safe way of engaging with the outgroup even in contexts of entrenched conflict.
Bu çalışmanın amacı Türkiye'de yaşayan iki önemli azınlık grubuna (Kürt ve Ermeni) yönelik dışgrup tutumları ve çokkültürlülüğü yordayan faktörleri incelemektir. Bu bağlamda, her iki grup için de gruplararası tehdit ve kaygı-nın, algılanan çatışma ve gruplararası temas ile dışgrup tutumlar ve çokkültürlülüğe destek değişkenleri arasındaki ilişkilerde aracı rolü araştırılmıştır. Çalışmada İstanbul'da yaşayan ve kendini Türk olarak tanımlayan toplam 356 üniversite öğrencisinin Kürt ve Ermeni grup üyelerine yönelik düşünce ve tutumlarına ilişkin psikolojik mekaniz-malar incelenmiştir. Sonuçlar her iki gruba yönelik tutumların eşit olumlulukta olduğunu göstermiş, ancak Kürtler bağlamında hem çokkültürlülüğe desteğin hem de algılanan çatışma ve temasın Ermenilere göre daha yüksek ol-duğu görülmüştür. Uygulanan yapısal eşitlik modelleri ise hem kaygı hem de tehdit değişkenlerinin tutumlar ve çokkültürlülükle ilişkili olduğunu, ancak aracı değişkenlerin etkilerinin iki azınlık grubu bağlamında farklılaştığını göstermiştir. Kürtlere yönelik modelde, tehdit, temas ve çatışmanın her iki bağımlı değişkende etkilerini açıklarken, Ermenilere yönelik modelde etkili bir aracı değildir. Beklenenin aksine, Kürtlere dair grup kaygısı temasın tutum-lar üzerinde etkisine aracılık etmemekte, ancak Ermenilere dair grup kaygısı temasın her iki bağımlı değişkende etkilerini açıklamaktadır. Bulgular, Türkiye'de süregelen Türk-Kürt ve Türk-Ermeni gruplararası ilişkileri ışığında değerlendirilmiştir. Abstract The current study examined relationships between intergroup contact and conflict, attitudes, and support for multi-culturalism towards two critical minority groups in Turkey (Kurdish and Armenian) and explored the potential mediating roles of perceived threat and intergroup anxiety in these relationships. The sample was composed of 356 Turk-ish university students in Istanbul, Turkey. Findings demonstrated that outgroup attitudes towards the two outgroups were equally positive, yet support for multiculturalism, perceived conflict, and intergroup contact with the Kurdish outgroup was higher compared to the Armenian outgroup. The results of structural equation models indicated that both anxiety and threat were related to dependent variables, yet significant group differences in mediational models emerged. Threat significantly mediated the effects of contact and conflict on both outcome variables regarding the Kurdish group, but was not an effective mediator on attitudes and multiculturalism towards the Armenian group. Contrary to what was suggested, anxiety towards Kurds did not mediate the effects of contact, whereas anxiety towards Armenians explained the association between contact and outcome variables. Results are discussed in the light of long-lasting Turkish-Kurdish and Turkish-Armenian intergroup relationships.
Tourist–host social contact significantly influences the perceptions of tourists and deserves more attention from scholars in the field of tourism research. However, studies on the relationship between these two constructs are limited. To address this research gap, the present study develops and validates instruments for measuring social contact and perceived cultural distance in the context of tourism, explores the effects of social contact on perceived cultural distance, and provides implications for tourism stakeholders, including governments, tourism operators, and local communities. A survey was conducted among Hong Kong tourists traveling to Mainland China. The study had two significant findings: (1) the quality of contact negatively influences tourists’ perceived cultural distance and (2) in terms of the quantity of contact, social-oriented contacts negatively influence perceived cultural distance, whereas service-oriented contacts positively affect perceived cultural distance. Implications were provided to contribute to theoretical and empirical realms, and to guide policy formulation.
We examined how ethnic discrimination targeting ethnic minority group members would affect majority group members’ attitudes and multiculturalism towards ethnic minority groups in the context of Turkish–Kurdish interethnic conflict. Study 1 (N = 356) demonstrated that the extent to which majorities (Turkish) believed there was ethnic discrimination towards minorities (Kurdish) in the Turkish society was associated with positive outgroup attitudes and support for multiculturalism through decreased levels of perceived threat from the outgroup. Study 2 (N = 82) showed that Turkish participants who read bogus news reports about the prevalence of ethnic discrimination towards the Kurdish were more positive towards this ethnic group (higher levels of support for multiculturalism, culture maintenance, and intergroup contact) compared to participants in the neutral condition. Furthermore, participants who were presented with lower levels of discrimination (few companies have been discriminatory against the Kurdish) were more positive towards Kurdish people than participants who were presented with higher levels of discrimination (most companies have been discriminatory against the Kurdish). Regardless of the intensity of discrimination, information about the prevalence of ethnic discrimination improved majority members’ attitudes towards ethnic minority groups. Practical and theoretical implications of the studies were discussed.
This study explores who Turkish citizens view as the Other, their perceptions, evaluations, and the degree of Othering of these groups in the private and public spheres. Drawing from varied political science and social psychology literature, it also examines the role of social contact, perceived threat, and the strength of national and religious identification in predicting levels of Othering. Using a national representative sample, the findings reveal that Kurds are the most Othered group in the private sphere, while both Kurds and AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi – Justice and Development Party) supporters are the most Othered groups in the public sphere. Regardless of who the Other is, lower social contact and higher levels of perceived threat are associated with higher levels of Othering of Kurds, Alevis, AKP supporters, and AKP opponents in both the private and public spheres.
The question of Kurdish language rights has been a central issue in the Turkish–Kurdish conflict. The current study examined endorsement of Kurdish language rights in relation to intergroup factors (i.e. group identifications, cross-group friendships, perceived discrimination, and perceived out-group beliefs about state unity) among self-identified Turkish and Kurdish participants. The results indicate that Turks were much less in favour of these rights than the Kurds. In addition, for the Turks, higher national and ethnic identification were associated with lower support for Kurdish language rights, while cross-group friendship, perceived discrimination of Kurds and the belief that Kurds endorse national unity were associated with more support for rights. For the Kurdish participants, stronger national identification seems to undermine the mobilizing meaning that Kurdish group identification has for language rights support. Furthermore, friendship with Turks can undermine the support for rights because it strengthens national identification and reduces ethnic identification.
Being one of the fast 7 est-growing sectors worldwide since the 2000s, tourism mobility has risen to over one billion visitors worldwide , and is an important social event affecting both social relationships and cultural attitudes. This phenomenon has provided a wide productive field of study regarding various aspects in the study of sociology. This study has the characteristics of the tourist-local people interaction aspect especially, and aims to determine the effect of tourism on cultural attitudes in two controversial countries in terms of social relationships. In this study, in-depth interviews were carried out with 12 academics travelling from Turkey to Armenia for academic purposes in order to evaluate the changes in their pre-travel and post-travel perceptions and attitudes. As a result, the study has revealed that the ongoing problem of many decades between Turkey-Armenia can be solved, to some extent, through interaction via tourism. Thus, tourism can create a positive cultural attitude change.
This study evaluates the impact of all-inclusive trip experiences of tourists on their prejudicial attitudes toward their host. All-inclusive German travelers were probed for their attitudes toward their host at the time of arrival and before departure. Reasons for the differences between arrival and departure attitude scores were explored via multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) and regression analyses. As opposed to the intergroup contact hypothesis that tourism would reduce prejudice and increase cross-cultural understanding, the findings indicate that structured, all-inclusive tour experiences of this sample of tourists increase prejudicial attitudes toward their host. Exploring potential reasons for such differences in pre- and post-arrival scores, the study reports that overall satisfaction with the vacation, service quality factors and the nature of all-inclusive tour might be responsible for such results. Enhanced with qualitative data from key informants, likely reasons are cautiously speculated using contact hypothesis and the notion of “cultural bubble.”
The outcomes of social interactions among members of different groups (e.g., racial groups, political groups, sexual orientation groups) have long been of interest to psychologists. Two related literatures on the topic have emerged-the intergroup interaction literature and the intergroup contact literature-in which divergent conclusions have been reported. Intergroup interaction is typically found to have negative effects tied to intergroup bias, producing heightened stress, intergroup anxiety, or outgroup avoidance, whereas intergroup contact is typically found to have positive effects tied to intergroup bias, predicting lower intergroup anxiety and lower prejudice. We examine these paradoxical findings, proposing that researchers contributing to the two literatures are examining different levels of the same phenomenon and that methodological differences can account for the divide between the literatures. Further, we introduce a mathematical model by which the findings of the two literatures can be reconciled. We believe that adopting this model will streamline thinking in the field and will generate integrative new research in which investigators examine how a person's experiences with diversity unfold.
© The Author(s) 2015.
The notion that tourists actively co-create value with organisations is increasingly acknowledged in tourism marketing. Yet, not much is known about the processes in play when customers co-create value with each other. This conceptual paper offers a theoretical basis for the study of customer-to-customer co-creation in tourism contexts, while debating the epistemological assumptions of value-related research in tourism. Proposed conceptual framework posits that value is socially constructed and embedded in tourists' social practices.
This article sheds light on the nature of the Turkish denial of Armenian mass killings. A survey study investigates Turkish students’ construals (i.e., attributions of responsibility and perceived severity of harm) of Turkish massacres of Armenians at the beginning of the 20th century. The results demonstrated a high correspondence between participants’ individual construals and the Turkish official narrative of the events. Structural equation modeling indicated that in-group glorification, perceived in-group threat, and positive attitudes toward war predicted less acknowledgment of in-group responsibility, which in turn predicted less support for reparations of the harm inflicted on Armenians. The study highlights the influence of government-sponsored national self-images in the production and endorsement of legitimizing narratives of the in-group's violence. The findings call for research that examines the combined influence of psychological and societal mechanisms on people's beliefs about in-group actions.
This research examines how destination perceptions are socially constructed in the context of international tourism. Building on social identity theory, this research proposes that the process of international stereotyping might be triggered when two countries have conflicts, resulting in the formation of negatively biased country and destination images. The results show that individuals who have higher identification with their own country (guest country) might possess poorer evaluations of the host country. The results further indicate that biased perceptions are fairly solid in that they might not be dispelled after actual visitation. The results of this research provide evidence that destination image might be a collective construction and that biased destination perceptions might be determinant factors influencing destination choice decisions.
Imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & Turner, 2009) is a new indirect contact strategy for promoting tolerance and more positive intergroup relations. Despite its relatively recent inception, there have now been over 70 studies showing that imagining a positive interaction with an outgroup member can reduce prejudice and encourage positive intergroup behavior. With this meta-analysis, we provide the first quantitative review of imagined contact effects on four key measures of intergroup bias: attitudes, emotions, intentions and behavior. We also test for moderators arising from both group and study design characteristics. The analysis found that imagined contact resulted in significantly reduced intergroup bias across all four dependent variables (overall d+ = 0.35). The effect was significant for both published and unpublished studies, and emerged across a broad range of target outgroups and contexts. The effect was equally strong for explicit and implicit attitude measures, but was stronger on behavioral intentions than on attitudes, supporting the direct link between imagery and action proposedly underlying mental simulation effects. Most design characteristics had no significant impact, including valence of the imagined interaction, type of control condition, and time spent imagining contact. However, the more participants were instructed to elaborate on the context within which the imagined interaction took place, the stronger the effect. The imagined contact effect was also stronger for children than for adults, supporting the proposition that imagined contact is a potentially key component of educational strategies aiming to promote positive social change.
The objectives of this book are threefold: (i) to identify and learn from examples of a positive relationship between tourism and peace; (ii) to make available the output of and to stimulate further academic research and scholarship focused on the tourism and peace proposition; and (iii) to move on from the original question of whether tourism contributes to peace, to finding ways in which tourism can be managed and conducted to meet the peace objective. The conceptual and theoretical foundations are laid in chapters 1-3. The tourism encounter theme is taken up in chapters 4-8. Chapters 9-15 extend the discussion into the area of conflict resolution.
Living in eastern versus non-eastern Turkey reflects not merely a geographical distinction but, instead, indicates the deep sociocultural disaffection between easterners and non-easterners. To address this polarity, “We are Anatolia” [Biz Anadoluyuz] is designed as a four-day tourism-based intervention to improve the attitudes of adolescents from eastern and non-eastern Turkey towards one other. In this project, easterners visit a non-eastern city; non-easterners, an eastern one. The visitors’ tourist experiences are enriched by ensuring pre-programmed direct contact activities with inhabitants of the host city in recreational settings and by increasing the salience of common ingroup identity between visitors and hosts. The present study (N = 1043) evaluated the effectiveness of this project through a pre- and post-test design with a control group. The visitors’ contact intentions, psychological closeness, and warmth towards the inhabitants of the host city were assessed at the first (T1) and last days of the trips (T2), as well as three months later (T3). Except for contact intentions, participants (especially non-easterners) showed a positive change from T1 to T2 and preserved that improvement in T3. However, the intervention-related changes demonstrated only small effect sizes; moreover, no difference existed between the treatment and control groups regarding their short-term gains. We discuss the potential of tourism for societal peace.
Social contact becomes an essential agenda of tourist-resident relationship research. However, the development of social contact in tourism and how it could influence the tourist-resident relationship is still ambiguous. This conceptual study addresses those research gaps by providing an overview of the current development in tourist-resident social contact; developing a tourist-resident social contact axis to understand different tourist-resident relationship through social contact; and delineating the future research directions of tourist-resident social contact. This research contributes to the theory by clarifying the development of the concept in terms of contact antecedents, contact types and contact impacts, proposing a social contact axis to understand the tourist-resident relationship through four contact scenarios and offering directions to guide the future investigations. Practically, results benefit different stakeholders regarding how to jointly develop a favourable and sustainable tourist-resident relationship.
Despite burgeoning evidence for the effectiveness of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction, relatively less is known about how much individuals’ internal control and active choice is involved in the formation of intergroup contact. Through four correlational studies (Ntotal = 1043, Study 1 in Cyprus and Studies 2‐4 in Turkey), we investigated the construct of ‘contact volition’ ‐ the extent to which one engages in intergroup contact deliberately. Studies 1‐3 showed that intergroup contact perceived as primarily intentional and pursued by the active choice of the self (volitional contact) was associated with greater intimacy and positivity and thereby more positive attitudes, compared to contact that is primarily based on external/situational conditions (contingent contact). Study 4 showed that contact quantity was associated with more positive attitudes and behavioral tendencies through greater intimacy and positivity, only when contact was volitional. Findings contribute to the recently emerging research literature on motivated contact behavior that can help maximize the effectiveness of contact.
The ambiguous effect of cultural distance on travel attitude and tourist behaviours has long been debated, but its implications are vital to the success of achieving a sustainable tourist-host relationship. The study explored the direct and indirect effects of perceived cultural distance on travel attitude by adopting a mixed-methods approach and introducing a multi-dimensional perspective regarding the tourists’ social contact with the local. The mediating role of tourist-host social contact was also confirmed. The study found that the relationship between perceived cultural distance and travel attitude is “contact elastic”. Results empirically support the co-existence of the paradoxical effects of cultural distance on travel attitude. Implications are provided to policy-makers, practitioners and local communities regarding achieving a sustainable tourist-host bond.
Ethnic and national identities, as ingroup and superordinate identities, are key predictors for reconciliation, yet less research considers religious identity a superordinate identity.
Focusing on the reconciliation of the Kurdish conflict in Turkey, this study aims to test a
mediation model in which the relations between ethnic (i.e., Kurdish) and religious identifications (i.e., Muslim) and reconciliation outcomes were mediated by positive intergroup emotions. Moreover, to understand the diffusion of the conflict in a transnational context, this model is tested both in Turkey and Belgium among Muslim Kurdish minorities (N=141). Kurdish minorities’ levels of support for reconciliation and the ways they construe reconciliation were analyzed as two outcomes. For the latter, descriptions of reconciliation were first content-coded into seven themes. A latent class analysis of these themes led to two main construals: those endorsing a rights-based versus dialogue-based understanding of reconciliation; which was then used as a binary outcome. Results supported a similar mediation model in Turkey and Belgium.
Accordingly, stronger religious identification as Muslim was associated with positive intergroup emotions and in turn more support for reconciliation, whereas stronger ethnic identification as Kurdish had the opposite effect. However, having Muslim identity as a superordinate identity was double-edged for the Kurdish minorities: while high Muslim identifiers were more supportive of reconciliation in general; they were also less likely to endorse a rights-based understanding of reconciliation (versus a dialogue-based reconciliation).
Can imagining contact with anti-normative outgroup members be an effective tool for improving intergroup relations? Extant theories predict greatest prejudice reduction following contact with typical outgroup members. In contrast, using subjective group dynamics theory, we predicted that imagining contact with anti-normative outgroup members canpromote positive intergroup attitudes because these atypical members potentially reduce intergroup threat and reinforce ingroup norms. In Study 1 (N = 79) when contact was imagined with an anti-normative rather than a normative outgroup member, that member was viewed as less typical and the contact was less threatening. Studies 2 (N = 47) and 3 (N = 180), employed differing methods, measures and target groups, and controlled for the effects of direct contact. Both studies showed that imagined contact with anti-normative outgroup members promoted positive attitudes to the outgroup, relative both to a no contact control condition and (in Study 3) to a condition involving imagined contact with an ingroup antinormative member. Overall, this research offers new practical and theoretical approaches to prejudice reduction.
Recent contact literature has shown that imagining a positive intergroup encounter improves inter-group attitudes and behaviors, yet less is known about the effects of imagined contact in highconflict settings. We conducted three studies to understand the potential effects of imaginedintergroup contact among ethnic Turks (majority status) and ethnic Kurds (minority status) in theTurkish-Kurdish interethnic conflict setting. Study 1 (N = 47, Turkish) tested standard imaginedcontact effects (neutral vs. standard imagined contact condition) among majority Turks andshowed that imagined contact was effective on outgroup attitudes, perceived threat, intergroupanxiety, and support for multiculturalism only among participants with higher ethnic identification.Study 2 (N = 107, Turkish) examined how ethnic identification of the contact partner would influ-ence the effectiveness of the standard imagined contact scenario (neutral vs. standard vs. ethnicidentification condition) and demonstrated that imagined contact effects were more negativewhen the contact partner identified with his/her ethnic group during imagined contact. Study 3(N = 55, Kurdish) investigated imagined contact effects (neutral vs. standard imagined contact con-dition) among an ethnic minority group and showed that imagined contact did not improveminority group members’ outgroup attitudes, but did decrease intergroup anxiety and perceiveddiscrimination (marginally significantly) and increased perceived positive attitudes from the major-ity group. Practical implications of the use of imagined intergroup contact strategy in conflict-ridden settings were discussed.
Imagined contact is an intervention that combines the prejudice-reduction of intergroup contact with the easy, low-risk application of imagery-based techniques. Accordingly, it can be applied where direct contact is difficult or risky. However, a possible limitation of imagined contact is that it may not be effective for participants with stronger initial prejudices, which would limit its usefulness and application. Two experiments (N1 = 103, N2 = 95) investigated whether initial prejudice moderated imagined contact's effects on explicit attitudes, behavioral intentions (Experiment 1), implicit attitudes, and petition-signing behaviors (Experiment 2) toward two different outgroups. In both experiments, imagined contact was more effective when initial prejudice was higher. Implications for imagined contact theory and application are discussed.
Three experiments were conducted to test whether an imagined contact scenario with friendship potential would be more effective than the standard imagined contact scenario in changing Turkish participants’ attitudes and behaviors towards Syrian refugees. Experiment 1 (N = 99) showed that adding a specific friendship indicator to the contact scenario (intimacy or interaction) increased the effectiveness of the typical positive contact strategy on outgroup trust. Experiment 2 (N = 145) demonstrated that imagining a positive contact scenario which included both intimacy and interaction elements simultaneously was more effective than the standard imagined contact scenario in increasing outgroup trust and behavioral intentions. Experiment 3 (N = 79) demonstrated that simply adding an explicit statement about the potential of forming a cross-group friendship improved the effectiveness of the imagined contact paradigm on attitudes, trust, behavioral intentions, and perceived threat. Theoretical and practical implications of findings for the development of imagined contact interventions are discussed.
We investigated associations between cross-group friendships, perceived interethnic conflict, and outgroup attitudes in the context of intractable Turkish–Kurdish conflict in Turkey. Measures of cross-group friendship quantity, perceived conflict, outgroup attitudes, multiculturalism, and outgroup responsibility for conflict were completed by Turkish (N = 320) and Kurdish (N = 153) participants (Mage = 21, 156 males, 317 females). Both cross-group friendships and perceived conflict were related to outcome variables. While cross-group friendships were beneficial for both groups’ outgroup attitudes when perceived conflict was lower; when perceived conflict level was higher, positive associations between friendships and attitudes became non-significant for the Turkish group and negative for the Kurdish group. Implications of the findings for the intergroup contact theory have been discussed.
Tourism has been heralded as a contributor to peace, however, the inconclusive findings of empirical studies render the need for a consolidation of theory that has in so far relied on case studies and the adoption of the contact hypothesis. Informed by political science theory, this paper proposes a methodological framework that can guide future research and aims to serve as a benchmark for researchers interested in temporal issues pertaining to conflict, peace and tourism. Signalling a departure from the simplistic notion that contact through travel contributes to social integration, the paper adopts a holistic conceptualisation of the multi-faceted and complex system of actors, sectors and dimensions of tourism spanning at the social, economic, political and environmental levels.
Tourism is an inherently social phenomenon. Tourists travel with others and experience places and cultures through interacting with both familiar and unfamiliar others. This volume presents a thorough tour of the social psychological processes which underpin contemporary travel. The fascinating phenomenon of tourist behaviour deals with topics such as motivation, destination choice, travellers' on site experiences, satisfaction and learning. This book uses an array of developing and recently constructed conceptual frameworks to both synthesise what is established, and to create new insights and directions for further analysis and, ultimately, management action.
"The East" is an exceptional territory identified with Kurdish ethnicity within the geographical boundaries of the Turkish nation. This paper focuses on a critical historical moment, circa 2000-2004, when the promise of peace in this region was coupled with the explosive growth of urban consumer markets, to bring into public circulation a host of commercialized images of "the East" and "Eastern people." It examines how "the East" became codified in popular television melodrama. It also tracks how "Eastern tourism" became incorporated into middle-class leisure practices. By juxtaposing television narratives and tourist narratives, it argues that the commodification in cultural markets both affirms its "exceptionalism" and challenges its taken-for-granted parameters.
A controversial claim that diversity has negative consequences for trust and other outcomes spawned a contentious debate in sociology and political science, but was hardly noted in social psychology. I summarize the debate, and argue that the efficacy of direct, face-to-face intergroup contact as a means of reducing prejudice is a stark omission, as I illustrate with evidence of the association between diversity, on the one hand, and trust, prejudice, and social capital on the other. I also consider two other contributions of contact theory to this issue, namely that contact with members of one group has an impact on attitudes toward members of other groups; and that contact should be studied via social networks. Despite the importance I attach to contact, I note two “enemies of contact,” resegregation in ostensibly desegregated settings, and negatively valenced contact. Finally, I point to the kind of research we should do, in order to increase the impact of our work on the public policy debate on this issue.
Despite its century long existence, social distance is still a rare area of investigation in the tourism and hospitality context. In particular, there is a lack of attention on the empirical investigations about the relationship between contact and social distance in host-guest relations in a tourism setting. Hence, the purpose of this study is to determine whether there is such a relationship between social distance and different contact factors (previous visits and close friendships). An on-site survey on tourists and locals at a popular tourist destination, Mugla, in Turkey revealed partial support for these relationships under certain circumstances. Implications and future research suggestions are discussed.
The present study explored attitudes of a majority group, Turks, toward dialog with two minority groups, Kurds and Armenians, in Turkey. We examined whether Turks would be equally likely to avoid discussing inequality (power talk) in imaginary dialogs with Kurds and Armenians, two groups that while equally devalued differ in their likelihood of being considered ingroup members. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that because Turks share a common religious identity with Kurds but not with Armenians, they would be more willing to engage in power talk with Kurds than with Armenians. In addition, we explored the role of intergroup contact, majority group identification (Turkish and Muslim), social dominance orientation (SDO), and the legitimizing ideologies of belief in cultural diversity and perceptions of ethnic discrimination as predictors of willingness for power talk with each group. Ethnic Turks were more willing to talk about commonalities with both minority groups, and less willing to talk about power inequalities with either group, even less so with Armenians than with Kurds. As expected, this difference was moderated by religious identification, such that Turks with stronger Muslim identification were more willing to have power talk with Kurds but not with Armenians. These findings point to the importance of common ingroup identity in majority members’ responses to different minority groups.
According to a dual process model perspective, intergroup contact should be particularly effective for people high in right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), but not for those high in social dominance orientation (SDO), because of different underlying motivational goals. In the present studies, we tested the hypothesis that imagined contact, that is, the mental representation of a positive intergroup encounter, improves intergroup relations for high RWAs. In two experimental studies, we showed that high RWAs, compared with low RWAs, show less negative emotions toward Turks (Study 1; N = 120) and more willingness to engage in future contact with Romani people (Study 2; N = 85) after imagined contact. As expected, people high in SDO did not benefit from imagined contact. Instead, people low in SDO showed less negative emotions after imagined contact in Study 1, but this effect was not replicated in the second study. Theoretical implications and the role of imagined contact as a possible intervention for highly biased individuals will be discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
We investigated whether imagining contact with an out-group member would change behavioral tendencies toward the out-group. In Experiment 1, British high school students who imagined talking to an asylum seeker reported a stronger tendency to approach asylum seekers than did participants in a control condition. Path analysis revealed this relationship was mediated by out-group trust and, marginally, by out-group attitude. In Experiment 2, straight undergraduates who imagined an interaction with a gay individual reported a stronger tendency to approach, and a weaker tendency to avoid, gay people. Path analyses showed that these relationships were mediated by out-group trust, out-group attitude, and less intergroup anxiety. These findings highlight the potential practical importance of imagined contact and important mediators of its effects.
Imagined intergroup contact represents a new indirect contact strategy to reduce intergroup bias. Extending the literature on imagined contact, we tested whether the inclusion of cooperation into the imagination task would outperform the standard imagined contact scenarios used in previous research. 87 participants were instructed to imagine a neutral versus a positive versus a cooperative interaction with an out-group member. As predicted, after imagining a cooperative intergroup interaction, participants showed more empathy and trust toward the out-group than participants in the remaining experimental conditions. Furthermore, they also reported reduced prejudice and intergroup anxiety. Taken together, implementing cooperation in the imagined contact paradigm reduced intergroup bias, above and beyond basic imagined contact effects. Finally, the perceived quality of the imagined interaction with an out-group member mediated the experimental effects. Theoretical and practical implications of these novel findings will be discussed.
Imagined intergroup contact (Crisp & Turner, 2009) is a new indirect contact strategy for promoting tolerance and more positive intergroup attitudes. We asked whether the positive effects of imagined contact are contingent upon characteristics that define the experience of intergroup relations. Specifically, we tested whether precontact intergroup anxiety makes imagining contact more cognitively effortful, and if it does, whether this detracts from its effectiveness. In two studies participants were asked to either imagine contact with an outgroup member or a control scene. We found that imagining contact counteracted the negative impact of intergroup anxiety on outgroup communicative behavior. Furthermore, performance on an ostensibly unrelated Stroop task revealed that this compensatory benefit requires cognitive resources proportional to the level of precontact anxiety. We conclude that the detrimental impacts of intergroup anxiety can be assuaged by imagining contact, but that doing so requires the allocation of attentional resources proportional to the positivity of preintervention contact experiences.