{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T18:22:25Z","timestamp":1774635745942,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1774569600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"2025 Jiangsu Higher Education Philosophy and Social Sciences Research General Project","award":["2025SJYB1760"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2025SJYB1760"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS One"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Classical contact theory posits that intergroup contact can reduce perceived threats and hostility between in-groups and out-groups, thereby laying the foundation for the formation of subsequent friendships and deeper forms of identification. However, in a cross-Strait context that is highly politicized and in which exchanges are deliberately obstructed by the Democratic Progressive Party, whether contact experience alone is sufficient to trigger changes in Taiwanese youths\u2019 attitudes toward Chinese culture remains an open question requiring further examination. Drawing on data from the 2018 Taiwan Social Change Survey, this study analyzes a sample of youths aged 18\u201345 and constructs an index of attitudes toward \u201cTaiwan\u2019s local culture\u201d to examine the effects of two independent variables, namely Taiwanese youths\u2019 contact with the Chinese mainland and increases in Taiwanese youths\u2019 cognition of the Chinese mainland, on their cultural attitudes. The results show that experience of contact with the Chinese mainland alone does not have a statistically significant effect on attitudes toward local culture. By contrast, individuals with higher levels of cognition of the Chinese mainland exhibit a significantly lower Taiwan\u2019s Local Cultural Attitude Index. These findings suggest that under conditions in which cross-Strait exchanges are constrained, contact per se may be insufficient to induce shifts in cultural attitudes. Instead, its effects are more likely to operate through increases in cognition.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0344614","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]],"date-time":"2026-03-27T17:47:14Z","timestamp":1774633634000},"page":"e0344614","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Contact, cognition, and taiwanese youths\u2019 attitudes toward local and Chinese culture"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Yafeng","family":"Xu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0003-1102-2010","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Liliang","family":"You","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,27]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"pone.0344614.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"65","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.psych.49.1.65","article-title":"Intergroup Contact Theory","volume":"49","author":"TF Pettigrew","year":"1998","journal-title":"Annu Rev Psychol"},{"issue":"3","key":"pone.0344614.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"271","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijintrel.2011.03.001","article-title":"Recent advances in intergroup contact theory","volume":"35","author":"TF Pettigrew","year":"2011","journal-title":"Int J Intercultu Relat"},{"key":"pone.0344614.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5","DOI":"10.1108\/01437720910948357","article-title":"Attitudes towards immigrants, other integration barriers, and their veracity","volume":"30","author":"AF Constant","year":"2009","journal-title":"Int J Manpower"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0344614.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"164","DOI":"10.36923\/jicc.v25i2.1096","article-title":"Diversity Contact: The Relationship of Positive and Negative Intergroup Contact with Assimilation and Multiculturalism","volume":"25","author":"P Genkova","year":"2025","journal-title":"J Inc Comm"},{"key":"pone.0344614.ref005","unstructured":"Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee, Taiwan Work Office of the CPC Central Committee. 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