Prof. Michał Bilewicz from the Center for Research on Prejudice at the UW Faculty of Psychology and Olga Kuzawińska, a student of this faculty, are co-authors of the publication, which appeared on 27th January in “Nature Human Behaviour”. The work concerns the impact of intergroup contact on support for collective action against discrimination among minorities and majorities.

The article discusses the results of research conducted in 69 countries. Research has confirmed the found that intergroup contact increases majority groups intentions to engage in solidarity-based actions in the protection of minority rights, but at the same time it may demobilize minorities and weaken their efforts to engage in collective action.

The cross-national study presented in the article was conducted on a group of about 13 000 people: 3 000 representatives of national majority groups, 1 000 people belonging to national minorities, 5 000 heterosexual people and nearly 4 000 non-heterosexual people. The Polish part of the study included samples of immigrants from Ukraine working in Poland, LGBT people and majority groups: heterosexuals and native Poles.

The Polish part of the study was part of “Language as a cure: linguistic vitality as a tool for psychological well-being, health and economic sustainability” (LCure) project funded within the TEAM programme of the Foundation for Polish Science. The project is focused on the factors that enhance psychological well-being and civic engagement of minority and immigrant groups. The project is co-ordinated by Dr. Justyna Olko from the “Artes Liberales” Faculty and Dr. Michał Bilewicz from the Faculty of Psychology. Olga Kuzawińska, a co-author of publication in “Nature Human Behaviour”, is a research student working in the project.