Interracial Interactions Research Articles

A death in the family: a metaphor about race and police brutality

PurposeThis essay was written in response to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks by police in 2020 and the surge of social justice protests they helped to reignite.Design/methodology/approachThis essay uses a metaphor that nearly everyone can understand to help build common understanding around the unique impact of police killings of Black people on other Black people.FindingsThis essay uses social psychological theory and our experiences as Black Americans and diversity scholars to illustrate why interracial conversations about police killings of Black people may not proceed as intended.Originality/valueIn the wake of growing social justice protests aimed at combating systemic racism in the US, many individuals and organizations are wrestling with determining how people can talk about race. This is uncharted territory for many, as sociological research shows that racioethnic integration has stalled or even regressed in schools, workplaces and social networks in the US This essay seeks to help readers move toward a common understanding to facilitate more empathetic interracial interactions involving Black people in the aftermath of these traumatic experiences.

Psychology for National Development: Interracial Interaction in Educational Context

Psychology for National Development: Interracial Interaction in Educational Context

Performance on Video-Based Situational Judgment Test Items: Simulated Interracial Interactions

Individuals are known to categorize others into social groups based on cues like race and gender and to experience relative discomfort when interacting with “outgroup” members. Two experimental studies were used to examine whether actor demographic cues in situational judgment assessment items completed by test takers in a simulated employee selection context may lead to differences in their performance and reactions to the hiring organization. In both studies, test takers assumed the perspective of actors shown in video-based scenarios and indicated how they would respond to interaction partners (IPs) to whom they were racially similar or dissimilar. In Study 1, a given test taker responded to IPs of a constant gender; in Study 2, IPs’ gender varied across scenarios within each condition. In Study 1, Black test takers spent more time and scored better on two of the four scenarios when responding to racially similar IPs. These effects were not found in Study 2, but demographic cues showed new interactive effects on performance and reactions. We discuss the implications of different findings across the two studies.

Paradoxes of white moral experience

Paradoxes of white moral experience

Supplemental Material for Learning Goals Mitigate Identity Threat for Black Individuals in Threatening Interracial Interactions

Supplemental Material for Learning Goals Mitigate Identity Threat for Black Individuals in Threatening Interracial Interactions

Ambivalent White Racial Consciousness: Examining Intersectional Reflection and Complexity in Practitioner Graduate Training

Ambivalent White racial consciousness describes a push toward awareness about racial privilege and a simultaneous pull back from this knowledge into a more comfortable stance of denial. Twenty-nine White community members and undergraduate students participated in focus group discussions on race. Results indicated that participants expressed ambivalent racial consciousness when they talked about: what it means to be White, their non-racial identities, oppression, attributions for racial inequality, and interracial interactions. Deconstructing ambivalent White racial consciousness can help trainers identify points of intervention for White graduate student practitioners to critically reflect on the intersections between White racial identity and systemic oppression.

The Effect of Diversity Climate on Institutional Affiliation/Pride and Intentions to Stay and Graduate: A Comparison of Latinx and Non-Latinx White Students

This study analyzed student perceptions of diversity climate factors in a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). The climate of respect, perceived value of diversity on campus, and interracial interactions with faculty and staff were explored to determine their effects on institutional affiliation/pride and intentions to remain and graduate. Results indicated that the three factors of diversity climate affect institutional affiliation/pride and intentions to stay and graduate for Latinx students.

Racial Integration or Segregation? An Ethnographic Study Exploring College Students’ Interracial Interactions in Recreational Sport

Racial Integration or Segregation? An Ethnographic Study Exploring College Students’ Interracial Interactions in Recreational Sport

Cracking wise to break the ice: The potential for racial humor to ease interracial anxiety

AbstractWe explore the idea that humor focused on social group disparities can be a viable tool to reduce some of the negative outcomes associated with interracial interactions. These interactions are crucial in promoting common understanding about the causes of social, educational, and economic disparities and crafting solutions to redress them. However, investigations have demonstrated that interracial interactions can be emotionally and cognitively taxing, and for these reasons are often avoided. When not avoided, these interactions often result in negative outcomes. Anxiety has been identified as a key factor in these outcomes as majority group members cope with concerns over appearing biased and minority group members cope with concerns over being discriminated against. Humor may be able to alleviate anxiety that contributes to negative outcomes associated with intergroup dialogue. To explore this claim, we first review the literature on interracial interactions and the role of anxiety in shaping them. We then discuss investigations exploring the impact of group-related humor, specifically disparagement humor, on intergroup perceptions. Finally, we draw from both literatures to consider factors that might determine race-related humor’s potential to facilitate positive interracial dialogue through anxiety reduction. We conclude with some possible areas for further research.

Supplemental Material for Internal Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice Fosters Respectful Responses in Interracial Interactions

Supplemental Material for Internal Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice Fosters Respectful Responses in Interracial Interactions

Modeling of the reaction interdiffusion in the polycrystalline systems with limited component solubility

that may be accompanied by the processes of mutual diffusion and phase formation. Controlled technological process of forming coatings with the given properties entails the necessity of forecasting the evolution of the phase composition. This in turn requires the development of algorithms and quantitative models of the processes. Reactive mutual diffusion in polycrystalline metal (oxide film systems with limited component solubility) has not been simulated before. The simulation allows selecting the annealing conditions (time and temperature) necessary for the inclusion and uniform distribution of metal in the oxide lattice. A quantitative model of the interaction in a multi-layer system metal — polycrystalline oxide of the other metal under conditions of limited solubility is developed. The model is based on the concepts of mutual diffusion of the components and the bulk reactions of the formation of complex oxides. The developed model was applied to the analysis of the process of modifying thin films of titanium oxide with transition metals. The model allowed us to perform a numerical analysis of the experimental concentrations of the component distributions in polycrystalline Co - Ti02 and Fe - Ti02 thin-film systems. The individual diffusion coefficients of the studied metals and titanium under conditions of vacuum annealing were determined. The model provides a good description of the basic systematic features of the process: the appearance of titanium in the metal film and deep penetration of Fe and Co into the film of titanium oxide. It also explains the fact that complex oxides are formed not by layer-by-layer growth at the metal-oxide interface, but throughout the entire thickness of Ti02 film. The results of analysis of the processes of interracial interaction in layered systems accompanied by the reaction mutual diffusion can be used to predict the evolution of the phase composition, as well as to control the technological processes of obtaining materials with the desired properties.

Multiracial Identities and Employee Absenteeism: Testing Contact and Depletion Hypotheses

Employee absenteeism costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars each year. Recent research finds that workplace characteristics are important predictors, yet variation remains by racial identity. Less is known about the reasons multiracial workers miss work. With data from the 2014 General Social Survey, we test a contact hypothesis and a depletion hypothesis. The findings support the depletion hypothesis. Multiracial workers are likely feeling cognitively taxed from comparatively more interracial interaction in the workplace, resulting in their higher rate of employee absenteeism. Given that the number of multiracial individuals living and working in the United States is expected to grow substantially over the next decade, understanding the factors that explain their work behavior may be beneficial to all social groups.

Aversive Affect Versus Racism as Predictors of Racial Discrimination in Helping

We examined aversive affect and racism as predictors of differences in helping White versus Black targets. According to aversive racism theory, Whites may express egalitarian attitudes but experience discomfort in interracial interactions, producing discrimination. Participants completed racism measures and reported their likelihood of helping White or Black targets. Racism negligibly predicted discriminatory helping across studies. In Studies 2 and 3, participants experiencing aversive affect were less likely to help Black than White targets. Results demonstrate negative feelings, more so than racial biases, impacts discriminatory helping. We hope to inspire future research examining why White bystanders experience aversion in interracial helping.

Jurors' cognitive depletion and performance during jury deliberation as a function of jury diversity and defendant race.

Racial diversity in juries, meant to ensure representation of minority voices, can also reduce racial bias in verdicts and improve group performance during deliberation (Sommers, 2006). Although jury diversity might increase cognitive depletion because it involves interracial interactions (Richeson & Shelton, 2003), it might also reduce racial disparity in verdicts and deliberation quality by improving the quality of deliberation for Black defendants. In 6-person juries that included 2 White or 2 Black confederates, White jurors viewed trial evidence including a defendant race manipulation (White, Black) and completed measures of cognitive depletion and case facts recall. Deliberation transcripts were coded for the number of total, correct, and new case facts mentioned by jurors. As predicted, jurors in diverse versus all-White juries were more depleted after deliberation, but depletion was not related to deliberation performance. For the Black defendant, jurors on diverse (vs. homogeneous) juries discussed more case facts; for the White defendant, the effect was not significant. Jurors on all-White juries discussed more case facts when they judged a White (vs. Black) defendant, but this difference was not significant for jurors on diverse juries. Thus, jury diversity reduced racial disparity in the quality of deliberation. Before and after deliberation, jurors were less likely to convict the Black (vs. White) defendant regardless of jury composition. These findings reinforce the importance of constructing racially diverse juries, given that they may be better equipped to evaluate trial evidence for both Black and White defendants despite the cognitive demand of deliberating within a diverse group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Influence of Ca-doped NaNbO3 and its heterojunction with g-C3N4 on the photoredox performance

Undoped, Ca-doped NaNbO3 and its heterostructure with g-C3N4 have been successfully prepared through chemical route followed by heat treatment. All the prepared samples were analysed using XRD, FESEM, TEM and XPS spectroscopy for various structural and surface features. Further, absorbance (UV–visible) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy revealed the bandgap narrowing and emission quenching, respectively as a result of doping and formation of heterojunction. Ca doped NaNbO3-C3N4 sample exhibited almost 100% photodegradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in 4 h. Here, the superoxide anion radical has been found as the active reactive oxidative species (ROS). Further, being a visible active catalyst, photocatalytic H2 evolution has also been studied through water splitting under solar irradiations in which H2 yield of 0.01, 0.03, 0.09 and 0.29 mmol (in 1 h) was observed using bare NaNbO3, Ca-NaNbO3, and their respective heterostructures, respectively. Modified oxygen vacancies and synergistic interracial interaction have induced such a noteworthy photocatalytic H2 evolution ability of as-prepared heterostructure with 3.45 mmol H2 yield 4 h of exposure.

Infants\u2019 brain responses to pupillary changes in others are affected by race

Sensitive responding to eye cues plays a key role during human social interactions. Observed changes in pupillary size provide a range of socially-relevant information including cues regarding a person’s emotional and arousal states. Recently, infants have been found to mimic observed pupillary changes in others, instantiating a foundational mechanism for eye-based social communication. Among adults, perception of pupillary changes is affected by race. Here, we examined whether and how race impacts the neural processing of others’ pupillary changes in early ontogeny. We measured 9-month-old infants’ brain responses to dilating and constricting pupils in the context of viewing own-race and other-race eyes using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Our results show that only when responding to own-race eyes, infants’ brains distinguished between changes in pupillary size. Specifically, infants showed enhanced responses in the right superior temporal cortex when observing own-race pupil dilation. Moreover, when processing other-race pupillary changes, infants recruited the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, a brain region linked to cognitive control functions. These findings suggest that, early in development, the fundamental process of responding to pupillary changes is impacted by race and interracial interactions may afford greater cognitive control or effort. This critically informs our understanding of the early origins of responding to pupillary signals in others and further highlights the impact of race on the processing of social signals.

Implicit Bias Predicts Liking of Ingroup Members Who Are Comfortable With Intergroup Interaction.

We test a novel framework for how ingroup members are perceived during intergroup interaction. Across three experiments, we found that, above and beyond egalitarian attitudes and motivations, White observers' automatic responses to Blacks (i.e., their implicit anti-Black bias) shaped their affiliation toward ingroup targets who appeared comfortable engaging in interracial versus same-race interaction. White observers' implicit anti-Black bias negatively correlated with liking of White targets who were comfortable with Blacks (Experiments 1-3). The relationship between implicit bias and liking varied as a function of targets' nonverbal comfort in interracial interactions (Experiment 1). Specifically, implicit bias negatively correlated with liking of targets when targets' nonverbal behaviors revealed observers felt comfortable with interracial contact, irrespective of the nature of those behaviors (Experiment 2). Finally, the relationship between implicit bias and target liking was mediated by perceived similarity (Experiment 3). Theoretical implications for stigma-by-association, social network homogeneity, and extended contact are discussed.

Different sides of the same conversation: Black and White partners differ in perceptions of interaction content

AbstractA positive interracial interaction can create a foundation for friendships, improved intergroup attitudes and reduced prejudice. Recent research has demonstrated that what people talk about in important. Here, two studies expand the interaction content model of interracial interactions to reveal that Black and White Americans perceive interaction content in similar and different ways. As expected, Black and White participants evaluated conversation topics along the same three dimensions, but differed in their perceptions of specific conversation topics. These convergences and differences emerged for pre‐generated (Study 1) and self‐generated (Study 2) topics. Factor analyses revealed that conversation attributes similarly distilled to the predicted underlying content dimensions of intimacy, valence, and controversy for Black and White Americans. However, Black individuals found interaction content, in general, to be more controversial, race‐related, enjoyable, and predictable than White individuals. Although both groups found race‐related content more controversial, Black individuals were less bothered by discussing race and found race‐related topics to be more predictable and enjoyable to discuss. These findings supported the interaction content model which may provide a framework for future research on interracial interactions. We conclude with the importance of considering differences in perceptions of interaction content, as well as suggestions for how intergroup interaction research could benefit from systematically incorporating such content.

Longitudinal Leadership Capacity Growth among Participants of a Leadership Immersion Program: How Much Does Structural Diversity Matter?

Numerous studies have provided evidence that interracial interaction can contribute to the development of leadership skills and behaviors for university students. Yet, little empirical research has been dedicated to understanding the effects of structural (compositional) racial diversity within leadership programs on program participant outcomes. This study examined the impact of the structural racial diversity of 50 leadership program sessions on student leadership capacity gains over time. A total of 667 participants in sessions coded as either “High,” “Moderate,” or “Low” with regard to racial diversity within the session served as the sample. Results from data collected immediately prior to, directly after, and 3-4 months after program participation suggest the training effects of a leadership initiative may be augmented by the recruitment of racially diverse participants.

"A threat on the ground": The consequences of witnessing stereotype-confirming ingroup members in interracial interactions.

Three studies explored interpersonal consequences of engaging in interracial interactions after witnessing racial ingroup members' stereotypical behavior. Study 1 used experience-sampling methodology to assess ethnic minority students' (n = 119) intergroup anxiety, metastereotypes, and anticipatory behaviors following one of three types of interpersonal interactions: (a) a White person and a racial ingroup member who had behaved stereotypically, (b) a White person and a nonstereotypical ingroup member, or (c) neither. Studies 2 (n = 273) and 3 (n = 379) experimentally examined whether witnessing an ingroup member's stereotypically negative behavior in interracial interactions, compared to stereotypically positive (Study 2) or nonstereotypically negative behavior (Study 3) differentially affected anxiety, metastereotypes, and anticipatory behaviors in interracial versus intraracial interactions among Black Americans. In Study 1, minorities reported greater anxiety, metastereotypes, and motivation to disprove stereotypes, but less interest in future interracial contact, following interracial interactions involving stereotype-confirming ingroup members compared to other interactions. In Studies 2 and 3, adverse interaction consequences were most severe when ingroup behavior was both negative and stereotypical compared to neutral, stereotypically positive, and nonstereotypically negative ingroup behavior. Additionally, metastereotypes (and, to a lesser degree, anxiety) mediated individuals' motivation to disprove stereotypes and desire future interactions with White witnesses following stereotypically negative ingroup behavior in interracial (vs. intraracial) interactions. This research highlights the emotional, metaperceptual, and motivational outcomes following ingroup members' stereotypical behavior in intergroup contexts that extend beyond dyadic encounters. (PsycINFO Database Record