When Contact Meets Emotions! The Specific Role of Sharing Emotions in Reducing Prejudice

Research in the area of contact and prejudice has been flourishing since decades. Nevertheless, the role of emotions shared during contact has been overlooked. Is a positive contact sufficient to reduce prejudice? What if everything was about the emotions people share during contact? In this study (N = 140), a mere positive contact was compared to conditions in which participants share the emotions (i.e. awe and joy) they felt during a video with a Muslim confederate (chatting). Compared to the control condition (no contact), participants in the sharing emotion conditions (but not in the contact condition) gave more lottery tickets to the Muslim confederate. Moreover, people who share emotions with the Muslim were more likely to report similarity and positive affects toward Muslims compared to the control and contact conditions. A positive contact is not sufficient to reduce prejudice: The role of shared emotions seems crucial and need further investigations.