Learning orientation as a predictor of positive intergroup contact

Abstract

Adapting the goal orientation framework from the achievement motivation literature, the present research tests whether learning orientation, as compared to performance orientation, predicts greater comfort and interest in intergroup contact. These links are examined in a cross-sectional survey of European American and African American middle school students (Study 1), and in a longitudinal survey with European American high school students (Study 2). Both studies yielded converging evidence that while performance orientation generally had a negative association with comfort and interest, a stronger orientation toward learning predicted greater comfort and interest in intergroup contact. The links between the learning orientation and comfort and interest in intergroup contact were consistent across both racial groups in Study 1, and in longitudinal analyses in Study 2. Together, these findings point to learning orientation as a potentially important means for promoting positive intergroup contact.