The causes and consequences of an avoidance-focus for interracial interactions.
The current work examined the causes and consequences of non-Black people's desire to avoid interracial interactions (an avoidance-focus). Expecting to respond with racial bias in inter-racial interactions was argued to result in an avoidance-focus for such interactions, which was hypothesized to have negative implications for the quality of interracial interactions. Across three studies, feedback indicating that non-Black participants would respond with racial bias in interactions with Black people resulted in anxiety and the desire to avoid the interaction. In addition, when participants with an avoidance-focus interacted with a Black confederate (Study 2), they had shorter interactions that were rated as less pleasant by the confederate and participant as compared to those without an avoidance-focus. Avoidance-focused participants were less interested in future interactions and came across as more avoidant and biased to their partner than less avoidance-focused participants. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for racial relations.
Plant
E Ashby
EA
Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee 32306, USA.
Butz
David A
DA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology; D001362:Avoidance Learning; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D012929:Psychological Distance; D011822:Race Relations; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012933:Social Identification; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*