Intercultural Contact, Communication Apprehension, and Social Perspective Taking

Abstract

This research examined the relationship between intergroup contact, intercultural communication apprehension, and social perspective taking. Participants were students taking a course which facilitates interactions between culturally diverse students around the globe via internet technologies, students taking an introductory psychology course, and students taking upper-level psychology courses. Participants in the intercultural contact condition were expected to show gains in social perspective taking and a decrease in intercultural communication apprehension when compared to the two comparison groups. No significant differences between the three groups were found for either change in intercultural communication apprehension or social perspective taking. Potential explanations for this lack of change are explored, along with a path model to explain the influence of extraversion, neuroticism, agreeableness and openness on the dependent variables.