Explaining the Secondary Transfer Effect: The Role of Personality Factors

The secondary transfer effect (STE) is based on the idea that contact with a primary outgroup may shape attitudes towards secondary outgroups uninvolved in the contact setting. Most research has investigated attitudes towards the primary outgroup as a mediator of the STE. We conducted one correlational and one three-wave longitudinal study with Italian participants (Total N = 912), to test whether the secondary transfer effect can be explained at least partly by personality change. Specifically, we tested agreeableness and openness to experience as two facets of the five-factor model of personality as possible mediators of the STE. Main findings across the two studies are that the quality of contact with immigrants (primary outgroup) is indirectly associated with attitudes towards dissimilar secondary outgroups (gay people, individuals with disabilities) via greater agreeableness and greater openness to experience (in Study 2, STE effects emerged at the within-person level for openness only); effects for quantity of contact were inconsistent across studies. In general, the present findings show that (changes in) personality can underlie the STE. Implications of these findings for our understanding of the STE are discussed.