The Antecedents and Implications of Intergroup Anxiety

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The proposed work examines the factors that influence the course of interracial interactions. Research on intergroup relations has highlighted the importance of intergroup anxiety in determining people's responses toward outgroup members. Drawing upon previous theorizing from both the prejudice and social anxiety literatures, the proposed work offers a model of the antecedents and implications of anxiety in interracial interactions. Specifically, it is argued that intergroup anxiety results from a lack of positive previous experiences with outgroup members, negative expectation about the corse of interracial interactions, and a lack of personal motivation to respond without bias toward outgroup members. Further, this anxiety is posited to result in heightened hostility toward outgroup members and a desire to avoid interacting with outgroup members, particularly among people who are not personally motivated to respond without prejudice. Intergroup anxiety creates stress in people live's and can result in avoidant coping styles both of which have negative implications of people's psychological well-being. Avoidance of outgroup members can lead to feelings of social isolations among those people who are avoided, which has negative psychological and health-related implications. In addition, if anxiety results in hostility toward outgroup members, this hostility could be stressful for outgroup members and threaten their self-esteem. The proposed work tests the casual relationships in the model using a longitudinal survey approach and a laboratory experiment to examine by developing strategies and interventions to reduce anxiety and the concomitant avoidance, and hostility in interracial interactions.