Intergroup Communication with Autistic People via Music: An Imagined Contact Study

Abstract

Autistic people, as is the case with many health conditions, are subject to stigmatization. We aim to ameliorate this situation and increase positive attitudes toward autistic people. Grounded in the imagined contact hypothesis, we investigated the effect of imagined musical interaction with an autistic person on non-autistic people’s attitudes toward autistic people in general. We conducted an online experiment in which non-autistic college students (N = 443) were randomly assigned to 2 (music vs. non-musical) × 2 (autistic student vs. non-autistic student) conditions. Thus, participants imagined communicating with an autistic (or non-autistic) peer student while doing a music-related (or math-related) school activity. Imagining musical (vs. non-musical) interactions with an autistic person marginally significantly increased a sense of synchronization with the target, which then contributed to reduced social distance. Results were discussed in relation to the imagined contact hypothesis and the broader applicability of music to reduce stigma.

Keywords

imagined contact / intergroup communication / autism stigma

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Arizona (STUDY00002617 and 28 February 2023).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

The data and materials necessary to reproduce the findings reported in this manuscript are available at https://osf.io/7nprk/?view_only=bb0b8485142b4aa29f622b69067723c5 (accessed on 9 May 2025).

Author contributions

M.S.: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, project administration, visualization, writing—original draft preparation; H.G.: conceptualization, methodology, writing— original draft preparation, reviewing and editing; J.H.: supervision, methodology, writing—reviewing and editing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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