The utility of Allport's conditions of intergroup contact for predicting perceptions of improved racial attitudes and beliefs

We test the predictive power of perception as it relates to Allport's (1954 /1979) classic articulation of the conditions of contact conducive to reduc ing intergroup prejudice and increasing tolerance. After summarizing theori es of prejudice and models of prejudice reduction, as well as recently publ ished reviews of evidence relating to the Contact Hypothesis, we present re sults of an evaluation of a prejudice reduction program that trains and pla ces college student facilitators in middle and high school classrooms to le nd discussions about race. We show that a composite of five classroom clima te conditions that the Contact Hypothesis suggests are conducive to prejudi ce reduction predicts teachers' and college student facilitator's perceptio ns of change in three aspects of middle and high school student racial atti tudes. Students' perceptions of the school interracial climate are modestly predictive of their changes in these three aspects of racial attitudes. Ho wever; teacher and facilitator estimates of student outcomes are uncorrelat ed with actual student outcomes. Implications of these results for prejudic e reduction theory and practice are discussed.