Accuracy of Black and White College Students' In-Group and Out-Group Stereotypes

Abstract

The accuracy of Blacks' and Whites' in-group and out-group stereotypes was examined by comparing judgments of the stereotypicality and dispersion of Black and White first-year college students with the stereotypicality and dispersion of self-ratings provided by random samples of group members. Accuracy was assessed using perceived-actual discrepancies and within-subject sensitivity correlations. Consistent with social identity theory, discrepancies revealed greater overestimation of stereotypicality and underestimation of dispersion in Blacks' judgments. But consistent with the notion that out-group information is more useful to Blacks than to Whites, sensitivity correlations revealed that Blacks' judgments of the out-group were as accurate as their judgments of their in-group, whereas Whites were more sensitive in judgments of their own group than the out-group. Participants were also more sensitive in their judgments of the White target group. Familiarity was generally unrelated to accuracy, but some evidence suggested that ethnocentrism may influence accuracy.