Whites' Desire to Affiliate and Perceived Understanding in Interracial Interactions

• Whites' affiliation predicts perceived understanding of Blacks' racial experiences. • Self-image goals mediate the effect of affiliation on perceived understanding. • Whites and Blacks disagree about how well Whites understand racial experiences. • Differences in affiliation cause divergent perceptions of understanding. a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Four studies investigated whether the desire to affiliate with Blacks motivates Whites to perceive that they understand Blacks during discussions of racial topics. Whites' desire to affiliate predicted perceived understanding of Blacks when discussing racial topics (Study 1a), and this effect was mediated by Whites' self-image goals during the interaction (Study 3). Furthermore, Whites' desire to affiliate with Blacks created divergent perceptions of understanding when discussing racial topics (Studies 1b and 2), such that Whites felt they understood Blacks but Blacks did not feel similarly understood. Whites interacting with Black (vs. White) partners reported greater desire to affiliate during discussions about racial topics, which in turn led to greater perceived understanding of the partner (Study 4). I discuss the implications of Whites' desire to affiliate with Blacks when talking about race. Introduction In the United States, Blacks typically experience more racial discrimination than Whites do (e.g., Feagin, 2006). Survey data reveals that 70% of White respondents (vs. 26% of Blacks) have never felt racially discriminated against (ABC News/Washington Post, 2009). Instead of viewing Whites as targets of discrimination, people tend to perceive Whites as perpetrators (Inman & Baron, 1996) and stereotype them as being prejudiced (Vorauer, Main, & O'Connell, 1998). Because Whites typically do not undergo racial discrimination and tend to perceive race relations differently from Blacks (e.g., Eibach & Ehrlinger, 2006), they may feel as though they do not understand Blacks' racial experiences very well. Despite having fewer experiences with racial discrimination, when might Whites think that they do understand Blacks' racial experiences? I investigate one motivational factor that may contribute to Whites' perceived understanding of Blacks' racial experiences. I propose that when talking about racial topics, Whites who seek to affiliate with Blacks may be motivated to think that they understand Blacks. Whites may engage in this motivated reasoning when talking about racial (vs. nonracial) topics because these topics elicit Whites' concern about appearing prejudiced (Goff, Steele, & Davies, 2008), and one way to ward off claims of appearing prejudiced may be to claim understanding. Thus, I …