Study Description

Study: Gries, Crowson & Crai (2011)

Aim:

To investigate the effect that interpersonal contact, media exposure to and knowledge about
China have on the American people’s China policy preferences.

Method:
Two large surveys of US citizens were conducted in the summers of 2008 and 2009. The
methods and results of each were similar.
In the 2008 survey, 2,584 students and staff from a US university were surveyed regarding
their knowledge about and attitudes to China and Chinese people in general. Seven‐point
Likert‐type attitude scales were used to measure contact with, knowledge about and attitudes
to Chinese people and the Chinese government.

Results:
The study showed that objective knowledge about China mediated the relationship between
quality of interpersonal contact and prejudice toward the Chinese people. However, increased
knowledge did not improve all kinds of attitudes: attitudes toward the Chinese government
actually worsened as knowledge about China increased, and the more negative the attitudes
toward the Chinese government, the more the American participants desired a tougher policy
of containing China.

Conclusion:

As contact theory suggests, increased knowledge about China was associated with decreased
prejudice towards Chinese people, but (contrary to the predictions of contact theory) increased
knowledge about China was also associated with more negative attitudes toward the Chinese
government.
Evaluation:

Strengths:
Gender and political affiliations were controlled variables, with approximately even numbers
of men (1,295) and women (1,280) and Democrats (940) and Republicans (988). Chinese–
Americans were excluded from the study. So it does seem that this survey shows a correlation
between knowledge and decreased prejudice. Allport’s intergroup contact hypothesis is
supported.
Limitations:
This is a study that needs to be conducted between other cultures that come into close contact
with each other. The results of the 2016 Pew Center survey showed that structural changes in a
culture are related to individual cultural attitudes towards immigrants. For example, citizens of
Greece and Italy held the most negative attitudes towards immigrants, feeling strongly that
they were a burden; these are the two countries that in 2014 were receiving the highest
numbers of refugees from conflicts in Africa (Italy) and the Middle East and Asia (Greece).

Key terms and definitions:

Globalization: The growing interconnectedness of economic, social and

cultural networks, through trade, information technology and travel.

Intergroup contact hypothesis: Increased contact between ethnic groups living

in close proximity increases their knowledge about each other and thereby
decreases prejudice.