How do people form expectations about interaction with members of other groups, and decide whether to engage in intergroup interactions? In five studies, I demonstrated the significance of prediction processes in intergroup interaction by showing that they can influence expectations and anxieties involved in such interactions, and affect intentions for future interaction. I hypothesized that when considering an intergroup interaction, people make predictions about the thoughts and behaviors of outgroup members, and use the feelings of difficulty of their predictions as information about what to expect in the interaction.
In Studies la and lb, I had participants make predictions about outgroup members{\textquoteright} behaviors, and manipulated the perceived difficulty of the prediction task by making the task easier or more difficult. I showed that perceived difficulty of predicting outgroup members{\textquoteright} behavior correlates negatively with outlook of future interaction with the outgroup members. In Study 2,1 used a different manipulation that directly affected perceptions about the target group members{\textquoteright} predictability. In Study 3,1 found that future outlook can be made more positive or negative by manipulation of situations presented in the prediction task. Lastly, Study 4 demonstrated how knowledge about the outgroup can help the prediction process, and thereby make one have more a positive future outlook of intergroup interaction.
}, year = {2009}, publisher = {University of California, Berkeley}, url = {https://www.proquest.com/docview/304846203?pq-origsite=gscholar\&fromopenview=true}, }