Underrepresentation and the Perception of Others’ Racial Attitudes

Abstract

Across two experiments, we investigate racial attitude perceptions in low-diversity environments to explore whether friendships with members of numerically underrepresented groups serve as a stronger indication of individuals’ racial attitudes than friendships with members of the numeric majority. Children aged 7–10 years heard about a Black (Experiment 1) or White (Experiment 2) protagonist befriending two classmates who belonged to either the numeric minority or majority group. When protagonists befriended classmates from the numeric minority rather than the numeric majority, participants inferred racial preferences among Black protagonists who befriended in-group (but not out-group) children and White protagonists who befriended in-group and out-group children. Racial preferences were not assumed when children made inferences about others’ choice of future social partners. This work has implications for understanding how the racial composition of environments may affect perceptions of the same-race and cross-race friendships.