Interactions in Black and White: Racial differences and similarities in response to interracial interactions

• Published in: Group processes & intergroup relations 2011-01, Vol.14 (1), p.31-43
• Main Authors: Doerr, Celeste, Ashby Plant, E., Kunstman, Jonathan W., Buck, David
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African Americans; Bias; Black people; Black white differences; Black White Relations; Blacks; Comparative analysis; Cultures and civilizations; Empowerment; Ethnic relations. Racism; Group dynamics; Interethnic relations; Interracial relationships; Prejudice; Race; Race relations; Racial Differences; Racial differentiation; Self-efficacy; Social interaction; Sociology; U.S.A; White people; Whites
• ISSN: 1368-4302; 1461-7188
• DOI: 10.1177/1368430210375250

The current work examined Black and White people’s expectancies for interracial interactions. Across two studies, we found that Black people, compared to White people, had more positive past interracial contact, which statistically explained Black compared to White people’s greater self-efficacy for interracial interactions. This self-efficacy, in turn, contributed to less of a desire to avoid future interracial interactions (Study 2) and partially accounted for race differences in actual amounts of subsequent interracial contact (Study 1). However, Black participants also had heightened concerns about being the target of bias in interracial interactions, which contributed to responses to imagined future interactions. These findings suggest that cultural experiences affect individuals’ expectancies for interracial interactions and that these expectancies, in turn, have consequences for the quality and quantity of interracial contact.