Effects of Prejudice and Power on Influence and Attribution

Abstract

This study explored the effects of race and relative social power on interpersonal influence and person perception. The subjects, white male students, were paired with black or white male confederates to produce mutually agreed-upon stories for Thematic Apperception Test pictures. Either the subject or the confederate in each pair was placed in charge of the interaction on the basis of bogus creativity test scores. Confederates behaved assertively and attempted to get subjects to endorse their stories. During the interactions, subjects endorsed the confederates' stories less when the subjects were in charge than when the confederates were in charge, but power did not affect subjects' later opinions about the stories. Subjects derogated low-power blacks but praised low-power whites. Subjects did not derogate high-power blacks more than high-power whites. The results are discussed in terms of the effects of prejudice on attribution.