| dc.description.abstract | When people are in situations when they want to have a positive social interaction with someone of a different race, but also feel uncertain about what exactly they should do or say, they may be more likely to express prejudice. Endorsing a learning goal may have the potential to significantly attenuate and possibly revert the adverse effects of subjectivity uncertainty on prejudice. We sought to examine how target race, subjectivity uncertainty, and goal orientations interact to influence subtle and overt expressions of prejudice. Caucasian-American respondents (N = 340) read letters from a White or Black international student. Some were made to feel uncertain about effectively interacting with the student, while others were made to feel confident. Participants were then exposed to learning goals, or performance goals, and wrote letters in response to the target. Confirming predictions, we show that when participants felt uncertain about interacting with a Black target, those who endorsed learning goals displayed less subtle prejudice on multiple indicators (p < .045). These findings extend the work on aversive racism theory (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1989), subjectivity uncertainty theory (Landau et al., 2012), and goal orientations theory (Elliot & Dweck, 1988). Implications for improving intergroup relations are discussed. | |
