Reconciling context and contact effects on racial attitudes

The inter-group contact hypothesis states that interactions between individ uals belonging to different groups will influence the attitudes and behavio r between members of these different groups. The two dominant measures of i nter-group contact are context (i.e., size of a minority group within a spe cified geographic area) and individual behavior (i.e., personal contact bet ween members of the majority and minority groups). The contextual and behav ioral measures of contact produce divergent findings. The contextual contac t literature finds that whites residing in areas with high concentrations o f minority populations have significantly more negative altitudes toward mi norities and minority-based public policies than whites residing in areas w ith low concentrations of minority populations. The behavioral contact lite rature finds that inter-group contacting among majority and minority popula tions significantly reduces prejudicial attitudes and opinions about minori ties and minority-based policies. In this article we examine both contextua l and behavioral measures of the contact hypothesis as they influence while attitudes toward immigrant populations (i.e., Hispanics) and white policy positions toward immigration policies. We offer and lest an explanation for the literature's divergent findings.