Meta-analytic review of the contact, outgroup ethnic-nationality effect (OENE) and prejudice relationships

Mac Donnell, Jade

Meta-analytic review of the contact, outgroup ethnic-nationality effect (OENE) and prejudice relationships

Thesis / Dissertation

2025

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Psychology

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

Identification performance is poorer for ethnic outgroup members relative to in-group members (Laurence et al., 2016). This outgroup identification deficit is referred to in this thesis as the Outgroup Ethnic Nationality Effect (OENE). Such misidentifications, while often earnest, translate into wrongful convictions with a high fiscal and social cost. Consequently, while the theoretical underpinnings thereof and means with which to attenuate such an identification deficit have been extensively studied, a paradoxical finding has emerged with regard to outgroup contact and the OENE. Outgroup contact is central to theoretical explanations of the OENE and higher levels of outgroup contact have been associated with improvements in outgroup identification performance and yet, the strength of the observed relationship between outgroup contact and the OENE remains small (Meissner & Brigham, 2001; Singh et al., 2021; Young et al., 2012). This research therefore sought to investigate this relationship by including and accounting for the influence of outgroup prejudice. This meta-analysis aggregated 53 years of research on the outgroup prejudice, outgroup contact, and OENE relationships and made use of matched-to-sample outgroup prejudice data to explore the moderating role of outgroup prejudice. Included studies tested memory for outgroup faces via an identification task and the final sample included data from 8418 participants spanning 54 studies. Consistent with prior studies, all outgroup contact OENE relationships were small in strength and affirmed the associated gains in outgroup identification performance when outgroup contact increased. Higher outgroup prejudice was associated with a reduction in outgroup contact and higher outgroup prejudice was associated with a decrement in outgroup identification performance. The findings support the tri directional relationship between outgroup contact, outgroup prejudice and the OENE. Future studies should not ignore the interconnected nature thereof and should measure outgroup prejudice alongside outgroup contact and OENE data.