Answer to Question 1
a
Answer to Question 2
An impressive number of research studies have confirmed the contact hypothesis, which states that intergroup contact between people of equal status in harmonious circumstances causes them to become less prejudiced and to abandon previously held stereotypes. The importance of equal status in interaction cannot be stressed enough. If a Puerto Rican is abused by his employer, little interracial harmony is promoted. Similarly, the situation in which contact occurs must be pleasant, making a positive evaluation likely for both individuals. Contact between two nurses, one Black and the other White, who are competing for one vacancy as a supervisor may lead to greater racial hostility. On the other hand, being employed together in a harmonious workplace or living in the same neighborhood would work against harboring stereotypes or prejudices.
The key factor in reducing hostility, in addition to equal-status contact, is the presence of a common goal. If people are in competition, contact may heighten tension. However, bringing people together to share a common task has been shownto reduce ill feelings when these people belong to different racial, ethnic, or religious groups. A study released in 2004 traced the transformations that occurred over the generations in the composition of the Social Service Employees Union in New York City.Always a mixed membership, the union was founded by Jews and Italian Americans, only to experience an influx of Black Americans. More recently in other parts of the United States, it comprises Latin Americans, Africans, West Indians, and South Asians. At each transformation, the common goals of representing the workers effectively overcame the very real cultural differences among the rank and file of Mexican and El Salvadoran immigrants in Houston. The researchers found that when the new arrivals had contact with African Americans, intergroup relations generally improved, and the absence of
contact tended to foster ambivalent, even negativeattitudes.