Belief versus race as determinants of discrimination: A study of southern adolescents in 1966 and 1979

Using J. E. Robinson and C. A. Insko's attributed-difference manipulation of belief dissimilarity, data were collected from 92 White and 38 Black 9th graders in the same school that Robinson and Insko studied in 1967. Both studies included manipulations of race of other and belief dissimilarity. The race effect for new Ss was significantly smaller than for old Ss. This result was obtained for all dependent variables, including 1 relating to marriage. For all Ss, belief effects were stronger than race effects for semantic differential items relating to abstract evaluation. Data collected from Black Ss in the new sample indicate the lack of a race effect on the marriage assessment--a result that provides evidence against the hypothesis that large race effects occur when there is intimacy of contact. An assessment of social pressure was correlated with race effect, but perceived intimacy was not. (40 ref)