Expecting To Be the Target of Prejudice: Implications for Interethnic Interactions

Abstract

Two studies investigated the implications of ethnic minorities' prejudice expectations for their affective and behavioral outcomes during interethnic interactions. In both studies, the more ethnic minorities expected Whites to be prejudiced, the more negative experiences they had during interethnic interactions. This finding held true for chronic prejudice expectations in a diary study of college roommates (Study 1) and for situationally induced prejudice expectations in a laboratory interaction (Study 2). In Study 2, the authors extended this work to examine the relationship between ethnic minorities' prejudice expectancies and their White partners' psychological experience during interethnic interactions. Consistent with predictions, the more ethnic minorities expected Whites to be prejudiced, the more their White partners had positive experiences during interethnic interactions. These divergent experiences of ethnic minorities and Whites have important implications for the psychological success of interactions between members of these groups.

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“…Meta-perceptions, or what one thinks that the out-group thinks or wants, have been found to be important for prejudicial attitudes and trust of out-groups (Vorauer, Main, and O'Connell 1998;Shelton, Richeson, and Salvatore 2005). In Turkey meta-perceptions about national unity are relevant because ethnic Turks often think that the Kurdish claim for minority rights challenges or undermines the unity of the Turkish state (Kentel, Ahıska, and Genç 2007).…”

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