Imagined contact can be more effective for participants with stronger initial prejudices

Abstract

Abstract 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 ( N 1 = 103, N 2 = 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.