Racial prejudice, interpersonal attraction, and assumed dissimilarity of attitudes

Publication Year
1962

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

It has been suggested (Byrne, 1961a) that the degree of attraction between two individuals is determined by four classes of variables: the structural properties of the environment which act to vary propinquity, the strength of the characteristic affiliation motive of each individual, generalization from previous learning with respect to the overt stimulus properties of one another, and the number of reciprocal rewards and punishments which occur during their interaction.

The aim of the present experiments is to examine several aspects of the latter two variables in the context of an investigation of racial prejudice. Specifically, this work was undertaken in order (a) to test hypotheses dealing with assumed attitude dissimilarity as a function of racial prejudice and (b) to explore the interactive effects of race, racial prejudice, and attitude similarity-dissimilarity in determining interpersonal attraction.

Journal
Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology
Volume
65
Pages
246-253
Type of Article
Journal Article
Full text

The following is an excerpt of the intervention methodology. For more information, please see the full text of the article on the publisher's website or through your institution's library.

EXPERIMENT I: RACIAL PREJUDICE AND ASSUMED DISSIMILARITY

Procedure A group of 54 students (34 males, 20 females) enrolled in the introductory psychology course at the University of Texas was given the Desegregation Scale. [...] Subjects respond to each item on a five-point scale of agreement-disagreement; high scores indicate unfavorable interracial attitudes. [...]

Several weeks later they were called in by a second experimenter. [...] The experimenter indicated that he had interviewed a number of college students to determine their opinions about several topics and had obtained their photographs. The subjects were asked to study carefully one of the pictures and then to fill out an attitude survey as they believed the depicted student might have done.

 [...] Guesses about the stranger's attitudes were made on the 26-item Survey of Attitudes which deals with a variety of topics such as undergraduate marriages, westerns, existence of God, political party, musical comedies, drinking, a Catholic president, premarital intercourse, etc. [...]

EXPERIMENT II: RACIAL PREJUDICE VERSUS ATTITUDE SIMILARITY

Procedure A new group consisting of 120 introductory psychology students (59 males, 61 females) was employed in this experiment. Initially, two different experimenters gave 166 subjects the Desegregation Scale and the Survey of Attitudes. [...]

 [...] They were asked first to read carefully the background information (including race) about the other person and then to examine his attitudes. Two scales of the Interpersonal Judgment Scale, which follow, were used to measure the dependent variables [...].

The scores on the attitude scales which they examined were fabricated by the experimenter. Half of each subgroup received scales on which the stranger agreed with them completely with respect to direction of opinion on each issue, and half received scales which expressed disagreement with them with respect to direction of opinion on all issues. [...]

Type of Prejudice/Bias
Country
Method