Recently, 60 Minutes presented a segment on Story Corps and, more particularly, on its program One Small Step, which is “… a national effort to help bridge divides during a contentious election year.” (Id.) To do so, the program brings people of diverse, if not opposite, backgrounds together to spend close to an hour or more talking to each other about their personal lives, their likes, and dislikes so that by the end of the session, they know each other as a person rather than someone on the opposite end of the political divide.

One of the persons interviewed explained that  One Small Step employs a psychological concept called “contact theory.” According to an article on the topic:

The Contact Hypothesis is a psychological theory that suggests that direct contact between members of different social or cultural groups can reduce prejudice, improve intergroup relations, and promote mutual understanding.

According to this hypothesis, interpersonal contact can lead to positive attitudes, decreased stereotypes, and increased acceptance between individuals from different groups under certain conditions.

The Contact Hypothesis was first proposed by Gordon W. Allport in 1954 and has since been supported by numerous studies in the field of social psychology. ( https://www.simplypsychology.org/contact-hypothesis.html#Contact-Hypothesis )

 The article discusses three conditions for contact theory to work:  there should not be any power imbalance between the members of the group so that each is equally a member;  the members should have a common  goal so that they are all working towards the same goal; and they should work together in a cooperative rather than competitive fashion (Integrative bargaining?) (Id.)

Yet another article notes that all one needs is contact:

Recently, however, University of California, Santa Cruz research psychologist Thomas Pettigrew, PhD, has turned this research finding on its head. In a new meta-analysis of 500 studies, he finds that all that’s needed for greater understanding between groups is contact, period, in all but the most hostile and threatening conditions. There is, however, a larger positive effect if some of the extra conditions are met.

 His analysis turned up another unexpected finding that also runs counter to the direction of the field. The reason contact works, his analysis finds, is not purely or even mostly cognitive, but emotional.

 “Your stereotypes about the other group don’t necessarily change,” Pettigrew explains, “but you grow to like them anyway.”

 (https://www.apa.org/monitor/nov01/contact  )

This got me thinking: Suppose the parties to a mediation take a few moments, sit down with each other (virtually), and talk about anything and everything BUT the matter at hand, like what happens at One Small Step. Get to know each other as people, their likes and dislikes, and, more importantly, what they have in common. Once they get to know each other as persons  (as opposed to “the enemy” or the “other”), the “us vs. them”  (or tribalism) mentality may well vanish, and it may well be easier to reach a resolution at hand. It is hard to be angry with someone you have gotten to know as a person.  They no longer will be seen as “the enemy”!

…. Just something to think about.

 

 

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