Kristof Dhont of University of Kent on intergroup contact research and research careers

The Sentience Institute Podcast

More positive contact [with an outgroup] reduces prejudice. No matter how you measure it, no matter how you set up your study design, once there’s a positive contact situation, you lower prejudice towards the outgroup... These effects tend to be stronger among those higher on social dominance orientation and those higher on right-wing authoritarianism, which makes intergroup contact quite a good and efficient strategy to reduce prejudice among those who seem to be initially prejudiced towards outgroups.
- Kristof Dhont

Recent psychological research on intergroup contact and human-animal relations has implications for effective animal advocacy strategy. But what are the most action-relevant findings? And how can researchers maximize their positive impact for animals?

Kristof is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Kent. He founded and directs a research group focused on the “Study of Human Intergroup and Animal Relations at Kent.” He recently edited the book Why We Love and Exploit Animals and organises the Animal Advocacy Conference: Insights from the Social Sciences.

Topics discussed in the episode:

• Kristof’s most action-relevant work for animal advocates and the audience of his work (1:29)
• Finding the balance between academic rigor and making work accessible to advocates (6:15)
• SHARKLab and the academic field of human-animal relations (13:28)
• Connections between right-wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and animal exploitation (26:02)
• “Vegetarianism threat,” its correlates, and its causes (41:12)
• The pros and cons of advocacy focusing on children (55:38)
• Research on human intergroup interactions and what this suggests about farmed animal advocacy (58:08)
• The importance of intergroup contact (including between humans and animals) being experienced as positive, in order to improve attitudes towards outgroups (1:12:32)
• The “secondary transfer effect” of intergroup contact, where reducing prejudice towards one outgroup also reduces prejudice towards other outgroups (1:14:52)
• How research careers and training in academia compare to research careers in nonprofits and more independent skills development (1:18:05)
• Advice on PhD applications and on research careers (1:31:16)
• The interaction between researchers in the academic sphere and the “effective animal advocacy” sphere (1:47:55)

Resources discussed in the episode are available at https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/podcast
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