Cross-group friendships, social dominance orientation and secondary transfer effect

Despite the impressive supportive evidence, the contact hypothesis (Allport, 1954) does not specify whether the positive effects following contact with a primary outgroup generalize to attitudes toward a secondary outgroup uninvolved in the contact situation. This type of generalization has been referred to as “secondary transfer effect” (Pettigrew, 2009). Participants were Italian high-school students (N = 140). We tested whether friendship with immigrants was associated with more positive attitudes toward both immigrants and disabled people, over and above the effects of Social Dominance Orientation (SDO; Sidanius & Pratto, 1999). Results revealed that cross-group friendships and SDO were related (positively and negatively, respectively) with the willingness to engage in contact behaviors with immigrants.In addition, the effects of friendship with immigrants and SDO generalized to attitudes toward the disabled, assessed with an evaluation thermometer, via perspective-taking and desired closeness to immigrants. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.