The majority of Americans want to believe that differences of color or ethnic origin are largely superficial and should be ignored or minimized. In general, Americans hope to remedy racial inequality by disregarding group difference. But this principle of color-blindness may also blind American institutions to real differences in the lived experience of minority groups, differences that cannot be ignored and should not be minimized.
In recent years, social psychologists have rediscovered the importance of "social identity:" the social categories-- such as race, gender, occupation, or political affiliation-- that people belong to and identify with. Research suggests that a person's social identity may influence her choice of friends, her educational and occupational aspirations, her political activities, and her commitment to various social institutions. With Foundation support, Kay Deaux of the City University of New York, Jacquelynee Eccles of the University of Michigan, and Diane N.
As American society becomes increasingly diverse, the nation’s continued success is contingent upon tapping the potential of all Americans. Recent studies have documented that black college students at selective universities typically receive lower grades and are less likely to graduate or to pursue post-graduate studies than are similarly qualified white students. A growing number of scholars believes that simply achieving numerical diversity isn’t enough and that creating a sense of trust among minority groups on campus is of paramount importance.
Many of the studies on racial interactions have been limited to a single meeting between strangers in an artificial laboratory setting. J. Nicole Shelton of Princeton University and Jennifer A. Richeson of Dartmouth College have designed a project to examine the dynamics of repeated interactions between white and black students in real-world settings. Previous research has documented the dramatic impact that individuals' attitudes and stereotypes, as well as anxiety about how their interaction partner will perceive them, can have on intergroup encounters.
When police officers are on duty, they often must make life or death decisions in an instant, with little but their intuition and experience to guide them. But recent high-profile cases where officers have shot unarmed black men have raised the question of whether split second decisions by police are influenced by unconscious racial biases that dispose them to be more aggressive in dealing with blacks than whites.
Friendships between members of different racial groups are often seen as a way to break down stereotypes. However, such friendships are potentially challenging, because they may manifest society-wide tensions on an inter-personal level. Researchers know little about how interracial friendships work, how they differ from same-race bonds, what makes them successful and gratifying, and what kinds of obstacles they may face.
The pressure to perform well can be an anxiety-producing process. That pressure is especially acute when one believes that failure will confirm negative stereotypes about one's group. Social psychologists dub this phenomenon "stereotype vulnerability" and often cite it as an impediment to progress for minority groups.
In the last two decades, students of race relations in the United States have broadened their focus beyond exclusively studying historically disadvantaged groups, and have begun also to examine whites. Understanding what it means to be white requires knowledge about the advantages implicit in being a member of a society's dominant racial group. For example, people tend to perceive of whites as more trustworthy and competent than people from other racial groups, based on nothing more than skin color.
For many years, research in social psychology has sought to explain how tensions arise between groups. This line of study has been dominated by a cognitive perspective, which suggests that people treat out-group members different than in-group members because they have certain beliefs about those who are different from them. Yet it may well be that inter-group difficulties result not from feelings about members of different groups, but from feelings about oneself that arise in inter-group contexts.
Ethnographic research has suggested that youth from immigrant families who identify with their parents’ cultural origins tend to be more attached to school and attain greater academic success than their peers who assume more Americanized identities. It is unclear, however, what might cause this association between ethnic identity and school success.