Inter-Group Contact and Social Norms: a Lab Experiment

Studies show that intergroup contact can reduce intergroup discrimination in several contexts but also exacerbate intergroup relationships. This projects argues that persuasion and social norms are competitive mechanisms most likely responsible for this conflicting evidence. A lab experiment on reducing discrimination towards transgender people is conducted to test these mechanisms. Participants are assigned to different treatments that manipulate contact with a transgender person (watching a video) and their expectations about other participants’ behaviors. Results will help understand under which conditions contact reduces discrimination and provide guidelines for designing effective interventions to reduce prejudice.