Putting rival groups in the same room, under the right conditions, melts prejudice

In 1954, Gordon Allport proposed that contact between groups reduces prejudice — but only when both sides have equal status, share a common goal, cooperate rather than compete, and have institutional backing. Decades of studies since, covering race, disability and sexuality, have made it one of social psychology's most consistently supported findings.

— Gordon W. Allport, The Nature of Prejudice — Addison-Wesley, 1954