In 1954 the social psychologist Gordon Allport developed a model for reducing prejudice by bringing social groups together to have contact with each other. This contact hypothesis explains that ingroup-outgroup contact can reduce prejudice and even stigmatisation if the following conditions are fulfilled:

1. The contact includes sustained and direct interaction between ingroup and outgroup.
2. This interaction involves both groups cooperating towards common goals.
3. Both groups have a sense of equal status.
4. The contact is sanctioned by higher authorities.

Since 1954, the contact hypothesis has been successfully applied in a variety of contexts to reduce prejudice and stigma.

In 2005 communication scholars Edward Schiappa, Peter Gregg, and Dean Hewes developed the parasocial contact hypothesis, applying Allport’s model to media spectatorship. The idea is that an ingroup viewer (e.g. a white European, middle-class, urban man) experiences an outgroup screen character (e.g. a black, African, working-class, rural woman) through watching a documentary.

The aim is to reduce the parasocial and social distance between viewer and character. The parasocial distance exists because the two groups do not meet in real life, and the social distance exists because of prejudice and negative attitudes.

In order to reduce prejudice through documentary viewing, Schiappa, Gregg and Hewes argue that parasocial contact needs to be positive for the ingroup viewer. This means the viewer needs to like and relate to the character. They need to perceive them as similar to themselves, trustworthy and ideally physically attractive.

How can documentaries achieve successful parasocial contact and reduce prejudice towards outgroups? How can outgroup characters be represented as relatable, similar, attractive and likeable? These are not easy objectives, as real people have multi-layered personalities and they rarely fit into clear categories, like ‘good’ (likeable, relatable) or ‘bad’ (unlikeable, unrelatable). Also, what if filmmakers want to represent ‘bad’ outgroup characters, like serial killers, or ambiguous characters?

Of course, documentary filmmakers have the power to use narrative and aesthetic means to represent characters positively. But, such representations often end up romanticising or idealising characters and their stories. This could result in positive stereotypes, as is the case with the extra-capable other. Or, ingroup viewers may perceive such positive portrayals as idealist, artificial or even unbelievable.

Watch this masterclass where Edward Schiappa and Catalin Brylla discuss the parasocial contact hypothesis.

Read the next sections about how parasocial contact can be achieved in documentary through perspective-taking and intersected social identities.

Chapters 8, 9, 10 and 11 go into more depth about these strategies.