This Friday - Psych Speaker Series welcomes Dr. Page-Gould

Nipissing University welcomes Canada Research Chair Dr. Elizabeth Page-Gould for the next installment of the Psychology Department Speaker Series, Friday November 14, at 1 p.m. in A-252.Dr. Page-Gould, associate professor in the Psychology department at the University of Toronto, will present a special lecture titled Cross-group friendship and resilience to negative intergroup interactions.
Here’s an abstract:
There is an apparent paradox in what we know about intergroup relations. When considered as an amalgamated whole, social interaction between outgroup members (“intergroup contact”) appears to be beneficial for intergroup relations. However, when you focus on any given intergroup interaction, then these interactions tend to be aversive and predict negative intergroup outcomes. How can intergroup interaction be bad in the short run but good in the long run? The multi-method research presented in this talk will suggest that cross-group friendship increases intergroup interaction, and that intergroup interactions in daily life are most common among people with cross-group friends. Moreover, cross-group friendship predicts adaptive responses following negative intergroup interaction. In other words, high-quality intergroup contact is a self-sustaining process once a certain degree of contact has been obtained. In the latter third of the talk, I will explore the contextual factors that encourage or hinder the development of positive intergroup contact. Altogether, this research will attempt to reconcile the intergroup contact and intergroup interaction literatures by suggesting that, in everyday life, the impact of negative intergroup interactions is mitigated among the people who are most likely to have them.
Refreshments will be served.?