‘We like because we feel liked’ exposure to cultural fusion improves outgroup attitudes through contact metacognition

Abstract

AbstractBased on the common ingroup identity model and the principle of group reciprocity, this study proposes that exposure to cultural fusion can improve outgroup attitudes by activating positive contact metacognition, that is, the subjective perception of the outgroup's desire for contact with the ingroup. To test this hypothesis, we conducted three experiments with Chinese Yi students. They were randomly primed with Dai‐Yi cultural fusion pictures, Dai cultural pictures, Yi cultural pictures or geometry pictures (Dai and Yi are two Chinese ethnic minorities). They were asked to report their contact metacognition, cultural identity (Experiments 2 and 3), explicit (willingness to help; Experiments 1 and 2) and implicit attitudes towards Dai (SC‐IAT; Experiment 3). The results found that exposure to Dai‐Yi cultural fusion improved contact metacognition among Yi participants, subsequently leading to more positive explicit and implicit attitudes towards Dai. Unexpectedly, cultural identity did not moderate the mediated effect of contact metacognition. These findings suggest that exposure to cultural fusion is an effective and stable strategy for fostering harmonious intergroup relationships and specifically highlight the importance of contact metacognition. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement.