Gordon W. Allport's 1954 book The Nature of Prejudice not only helped mold the ways in which psychologists investigate prejudice—it also shaped US society as a whole, making a substantial contribution to the Civil Rights Movement and America's anti-discrimination and anti-segregation laws. The book was immensely influential in the cognitive revolution of the 1950s, showing scientists how to take an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the mind. The intergroup contact theory first set out by Allport has inspired hundreds of studies, and his book's enduring impact is still widely felt today.
