An experimental investigation of the effects of racial prejudice and racial perception upon communication effectiveness

Abstract

Based on a rationale that previous research has assumed prejudice to be uni‐dimensional as opposed to being multi‐factored, it was hypothesized that different factors of prejudice would have different effects upon opinion change. Using general attitudes toward Blacks, attitudes toward the stereo‐typing of Blacks, the equality of Blacks, intimate social relationships with Blacks, and perception of the experimental communicator as racially Black or white as predictors of opinion change and behavioral response, it was found that only attitudes toward intimate social relationships with Blacks could significantly predict opinion change as advocated by a perceived Black communicator. This finding was suggested to be indicative of contemporary prejudice patterns in individuals who may be non‐prejudiced about some aspects of alien‐ethnic groups but who are in truth prejudiced in regard to intimate social relationships with those same alien‐ethnic groups.