A Robust Bias Against Interracial Couples Among White and Black Respondents, Relative to Multiracial Respondents

Abstract

Interracial couples are an understudied but increasingly common social group in the United States. We used direct and indirect measures to examine explicit and implicit biases (respectively) against interracial couples among samples of (a) predominantly White (non-Black; N = 1,217), (b) Black (N = 293), and (c) multiracial (N = 284) respondents recruited from the United States. Results provide evidence of implicit and explicit bias against Black–White interracial couples among respondents in the predominantly White sample and the Black sample. There was no evidence of such biases among self-identified multiracial respondents; in fact, they self-reported favoritism for interracial couples. Consistent with psychological theory and our preregistered hypotheses, we found that personal experience with interracial romance and self-reported contact with interracial couples tended to predict lower levels of bias against interracial couples. This research exposes a robust bias against a growing social group (interracial couples) among predominantly White respondents and Black respondents relative to respondents who identify as multiracial.