Understanding the impact of cross-group friendship on interactions with novel outgroup members.

We examined the cognitive processes that might account for the impact of cross-group friendship on novel intergroup situations. Study 1 demonstrated that closeness with outgroup members predicts an association of the outgroup with the self, both in terms of the group itself and the personality traits stereotypically associated with the group. In Studies 2 and 3, we manipulated the accessibility of either a same-group friendship or cross-group...