The effects of race similarity on interpersonal judgement in the Graduate Selection Interview

Abstract

The present study is an extension of the Dornbusch et al. (1965) model of research on perceiver effects vs. perceived characteristics in interpersonal judgement. To explore the effect of race similarity on within‐judge and between‐judge agreement on actor disposition, 20 black and 20 white student judges were randomly assigned to evaluate two distinctly different same race or dissimilar race actor characterizations under conditions of accountability and responsibility. Same and dissimilar race conditions were manipulated in the context of having judges rate mock videotaped interviews of two (same or dissimilar race) candidates applying to graduate school in psychology. As expected, same race judge and candidate conditions (e.g. white judges viewing white candidates) produced significantly higher between‐judge over within‐judge and chance agreement levels on perceived candidate dispositions. In contrast, dissimilar race conditions (e.g. white judges viewing black candidates) did not produce significant differences among the three agreement comparisons. Results were compared with previous studies that have obtained effects reflecting characteristics of the target (‘perceived’ effect) and suggest the need for more qualification under constrained conditions. The present findings suggest that both category‐based expectancies (i.e. personal stereotypes) and similarity effects may operate to produce the observed differences in agreement comparisons found between same and dissimilar race judge‐candidate conditions.