An experience sampling study tested the degree to which interactions with out-group members evoked negative affect and behavioural inhibition after controlling for level of friendship between partners. When friendship level was statistically controlled, neither White nor Black participants reported feeling more discomfort interacting with ethnic out-group members compared to ethnic in-group members. When partners differed in sexual orientation, friendship level had a less palliating effect. Controlling for friendship, both gay and straight men - but not women - felt more behaviourally inhibited when interacting with someone who differed in sexual orientation, and heterosexual participants of both genders continued to report more negative affect with gay and lesbian interaction partners. However, gay and lesbian participants reported similar levels of negative affect interacting with in-group (homosexual) and out-group (heterosexual) members after friendship level was controlled. Results suggest that much of the discomfort observed in inter-ethnic interactions may be attributable to lower levels of friendship with out-group partners. The discomfort generated by differences in sexual orientation, however, remains a more stubborn barrier to comfortable inter-group interactions.
In the current study, I tested a gender-moderated process model to explain when members of one relatively privileged group are oriented toward collective action for the rights of a relatively disadvantaged group. My model integrated three factors—gender, collective guilt, and close cross-group friendships—to explain collective action. I expected that among women collective guilt would not directly increase collective action, but having more close friendships with members of a disadvantaged group, an other-focused experience, would override the self-focused experience of collective guilt, and redirect guilt toward collective action. I tested the predictions in the context of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) rights. The sample of 85 undergraduates who self-identified as straight was racially diverse and ranged from 17 to 41 years old. Participants reported collective guilt, the extent of close friendships with people who are LGB, and their willingness to engage in collective action for LGB rights. Among women who are straight, but not among straight men, close cross-group friendships mediated the relation between collective guilt and collective action. I discuss the moderating role of gender, implications for research, and limitations. I suggest that winning the hearts and minds of the relatively privileged in support of social change may require that activists and policy makers understand the psychological relationships those individuals have with the members of disadvantaged groups.
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