Contact Hypothesis

1954

Gordon Allport (1897–1967)

One of the most enduring concepts in American social psychology is the contact hypothesis, which in its simplest form states that, under certain conditions, intergroup contact among groups that are different in some important dimension, such as skin color, ethnicity, or social class can reduce prejudice and produce more positive intergroup attitudes. More than seven hundred scientific studies have examined the concept since noted social psychologist Gordon Allport introduced it in 1954. What gave rise to such a fruitful social-science construct?

Right after the end of World War II, social scientists in New York City sought to demonstrate how their sciences could help solve real-life problems. One of the pressing problems was interracial housing in large urban areas. The war effort had brought many racial and ethnic minorities to large cities to work in factories, yet very little new housing was being constructed. After the war, tensions rose in regard to who would live where, since the usual pattern in America had been segregated housing. Social scientists saw this as an opportunity to do research that would inform policy while also shedding light on how to reduce racial discrimination and improve intergroup relations.

In New York and nearby cities, there was a rise in the number of housing developments that included both black and white residents. This created a natural laboratory that could help answer questions about contact between different racial groups. Researchers on these integrated projects found that tenants of both races reported a higher number of friendships with members of the other race, and whites had more favorable attitudes toward integrated housing. The researchers concluded that it was the experience of living in close contact with people of other races that led to the attitude change. It was this idea that Allport turned into the apt phrase “the contact hypothesis.”

SEE ALSO The Doll Studies (1943), Self-Fulfilling Prophecy (1948), Robbers Cave (1954)

Leaders of the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C., March 28, 1963, include: the Executive Director of the National Catholic Conference for Interracial Justice, Mathew Ahmann (far left); Chairman of the Demonstration Committee, Cleveland Robinson (seated with glasses); President of the American Jewish Congress, Rabbi Joachim Prinz (behind Robinson); and the veteran labor leader who helped to found the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, American Federation of Labor (AFL), and a former vice president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), A. Philip Randolph (center, seated), who organized the demonstration. Their physical closeness and agreement on the question of civil rights for African Americans paints a hopeful picture of prejudice overcome by increased social and physical proximity between groups.