Explanations for racial discrimination: The effect of group discussion on intergroup attributions

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Abstract
Studied the effect of group discussion and racial group membership on attributions concerning the causes of racial discrimination. Twenty‐ four Black (mostly West Indian) and 24 White adolescents (age 16‐19) were assigned in pairs to each cell of a 2 (Race of subject: Black/White) × 2 (Discussion/No Discussion) ‘mixed’ design. Each subject read four items exemplifying types of racial discrimination and attributed each to negative dispositions of Black people and/or discrimination by White authority figures (‘the system’). Subjects in the Discussion condition spent two minutes discussing each item prior to making their judgements. Ratings of ingroup and outgroup on eight attitudinal dimensions were also elicited, followed by a social distance measure.Multivariate analyses of variance revealed effects for racial group membership (p < 0.05) and group discussion (p < 0.05) on attributions. Further examination of the data by means of discriminant analyses indicated which items differentiate between the groups. Data based on the attitudinal ratings were also subjected to multivariate analyses and point to the positive group‐image of the Black respondents and a lack of intergroup discrimination by the White subjects; the social distance scores of the latter subjects are, however, higher. Results are discussed in terms of the literature on group polarization and intergroup differentiation.

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