[16] The general experimental paradigm used to test the effects of the imagined contact hypothesis utilizes two sets of instructions.
[2] In the first test of the imagined contact hypothesis researchers demonstrated that imagining a positive social interaction with an older adult led to greater desire to interact with an older versus younger adults and improved evaluations of gay men.
[20] Since this initial test, the imagined contact hypothesis has been associated with improved explicit attitudes towards outgroups such as: religious groups (i.e., Muslims),[21] undocumented immigrants,[22] mentally ill,[3] ethnic minorities[18] and the obese.
[10] The effects of the imagined contact hypothesis extend beyond increasing explicit and implicit attitudes to impact behavioral intentions such as engaging with outgroup members.
[21] This work has been replicated using a variety of outgroup targets such as ethnic minorities in Cyprus,[4] gay men[1] and asylum seekers.
[25] In the cases described, behavioral intention to engage was measured via survey items such as how much do you want to "avoid" or "talk to" an outgroup member.
[27] In one of their studies Husnu and Crisp identified that the relationship between elaboration and improved outcomes was mediated by participant's vividness of the imagined scenario.
Specifically they asked participants to either "imagine meeting a British Muslim stranger for the first time...[who] dresses in a traditional way, avoids alcohol, reads the Koran, and prays five times a day" or "imagine meeting a British Muslim stranger...[who] dresses in "western" clothes, drinks alcohol, eats pork, and does not pray regularly".
Individuals who rate they are lower in their ingroup identification show stronger positive outgroup evaluations following imagining contact.
[18] Two key psychological processes, anxiety and trust, have been identified as potential mechanisms for why imaging outgroup contact is effective for improving intergroup relations.
[32] In the same study, these researchers showed unique contributions of anxiety and trust, with imagined contact increasing intergroup trust leading to lower intentions to avoid the outgroup, and decreasing intergroup anxiety thus increasing approach related behaviors.
Some researchers criticized the imagined contact hypothesis as too rooted in the microlevel and laboratory setting, with it unable to address macrolevel social problems of intergroup conflict such as genocide and mass murder.
[33] Crisp and Turner responded to a number of these criticism by acknowledging the limitations of the imagined contact hypothesis and their methodological approach as experimental psychologists.
[34] Yet, they argued that experimental evidence is a vital step to understanding and developing empirically tested prejudice reduction strategies.
They also argued that evidence of the imagined contact hypothesis improving implicit attitudes[23][24] counters the possibility of demand characteristics influencing results.