Back and to the Future: The Intergroup Contact Hypothesis Revisited*

This article discusses definitional and methodological problems which have marked the forty-year history of the Allport-Pettigrew contact hypothesis and reports on a study of biracial private neighborhoods at two points in time, including tests of all four enhancing conditions of the hypothesis. Findings indicate that though interracial visiting and prejudice are inversely related, more strongly for whites than for blacks, support for the hypothesized qualifying conditions is stronger for blacks. Duration in the contact situation and age of the respondent are examined as tests of differential selection and as possible explanations for anomalous findings. New directions, guided by recent models and by reformulations of traditional frameworks, are suggested.