Promoting intergroup friendships in schools is regarded as a powerful strategy for improving outgroup attitudes. However, stochastic actor‐oriented modelling (SAOM) studies have often revealed no association between intergroup friendship and outgroup attitudes. I investigated whether SAOM studies reported no effect of intergroup friendship on outgroup attitudes, what was responsible for this surprising finding and whether exposure to outgroup peers was positively related to outgroup attitudes. The meta‐analysis of SAOM studies confirms no association between intergroup friendship and outgroup attitudes. Examining longitudinal social network data of 2700 German students, I found that a positive link between intergroup friendship and outgroup attitudes appeared only when I did not control for social influence. This indicates that intergroup friendship did not automatically improve outgroup attitudes. Instead, the development of outgroup attitudes among students depended on social influence and, thus, the quality of outgroup attitudes among their outgroup friends. Exposure to outgroup peers was, however, positively associated with outgroup attitudes. These findings reframe intergroup contact theory by suggesting that intergroup friendship is not essential for improving outgroup attitudes. Rather, social influence and exposure to outgroup peers could be key factors shaping outgroup attitudes.

中文翻译：

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关于群体间友谊对学校外群体态度的虚假影响：社会影响力的作用以及接触外群体同伴的积极影响


在学校促进群体间友谊被认为是改善外群体态度的有力策略。然而，随机行动者导向模型（SAOM）研究经常揭示群体间友谊与外群体态度之间没有关联。我调查了 SAOM 研究是否表明群体间友谊对外群体态度没有影响，是什么导致了这一令人惊讶的发现，以及与外群体同伴的接触是否与外群体态度呈正相关。 SAOM 研究的荟萃分析证实，群体间友谊与外群体态度之间没有关联。通过检查 2700 名德国学生的纵向社交网络数据，我发现只有当我不控制社会影响时，群体间友谊和外群体态度之间才会出现正向联系。这表明群体间的友谊并不会自动改善外群体的态度。相反，学生外群体态度的发展取决于社会影响，因此也取决于外群体朋友的外群体态度的质量。然而，与外群体同龄人的接触与外群体态度呈正相关。这些发现重新构建了群体间接触理论，表明群体间友谊对于改善群体外态度并不重要。相反，社会影响力和与外群体同伴的接触可能是塑造外群体态度的关键因素。