Information Seeking and Prejudice

Research has suggested thav racial differences act to influ ence decisiou-m ak ing associated wi th the selection of i ndivid~als on some social dimension such as friend, w~rk partner, or r oorr.mate . However, there i s also eviden~e the.t when one has infonne.tion ii'r.nacted reg~rdi ng the similarity or dissimilarity of an individual being selec ted on some social uimension , the importance of the ra cial differen ce s, as criteria for selection , dec r eases . The present study investi gated the comparative effects of race and attitude similarity on the information-seeki ng behavi or of subj ects who had as t hei r task the se lection of potential roommates . In this study white male undergrad ua tes from the Uni vers i ty of Rhode Island were given the oppo r tun i ty to select potent ial roommates of four types: white similar ; white dissimilar; bl ack similar ; and blackdiss imilar. An attitude measure was given to subjects four weeks before the selection procedure and , using subject responses, attitude pr otocols for potential r oolDI!lates were cr eated to appear as similar or dissimilar. A photograph was used to pres ent the r a.ce variable. The photograph 3.nd each item en the attitude questionnaire were placed in se parate em,·elopes and subjects were allowed. to seek fre ely as much informa tion (item-by-item) a s they required in order to make a comfo r table decision ab out e.c~eptin.g or rejecting t he potential r oommates . 'I'he amount of in formation used for each condition wa.s analyzed u sing a 2x2 factorial ANOVA. It was hypothesi::ed th8.t both the race and similarity "" of the

on some social dimension such as friend, w~rk partner, or r oorr.mate .
However, there i s also eviden~e the.t when one has infonne.tion ii'r.nacted reg~rdi ng the similarity or dissimilarity of an individual being selec ted on some social uimension , the importance of the ra cial differen ce s, as criteria for selection , dec r eases . The present study investi gated the comparative effects of race and attitude similarity on the information-seeki ng behavi or of subj ects who had as t hei r task the se lection of potential roommates .
In this study white male undergrad ua tes from the Uni vers i ty of Rhode Island were given the oppo r tun i ty to select potent ial roommates of four types: white -similar ; white -dissimilar; bl ack -similar ; and black-diss imilar. An attitude measure was given to subjects four weeks before the selection procedure and , using subject responses, attitude pr otocols for potential r oolDI!lates were cr eated to appear as similar or dissimilar.
A photograph was used to pres ent the r a.ce variable.
The photograph 3.nd each item en the attitude questionnaire were placed in se parate em,·elopes and subjects were allowed. to seek fre ely as much informa tion (item-by-item) a s they required in order to make a comfo r table decision ab out e.c~eptin.g or rejecting t he potential r oommates . 'I' he amount of in formation used for each condition wa.s analyzed u sing a 2x2 factorial ANOVA. It was hypothesi::ed th8.t both the race and similarity "" of the i potential roomma tes should have an effect on information -seeking b ehav i or e~d that there would be an interactive effect.
The r esults supported the hypo t hesis that the similarity of a potential roommate significantly affected the information -seeking b eha,ior of subjects . Information -seeking behavior was not significantly affected by the race variable nor was there a significant interaction effect between race and similarity .
ii Social distance measures were refined through the use of factor ana l y s is (Triandis , 1964) and at titude measures were added in order to explo r e the effect of belief similarity and dissimilarity on prejudice (Byrne, 1961;Rokeach, Smith, & Evans, 1960;Dienstbier, 197 2 ). This work has touched off a lively debate in the literature concerning the cause of prejudice (Triandis , 1961;Rokeach, 1961 "di f ferent religion," 11 Portug-uese," "physician, " and "Greek," "t r uck driver ," "white , " " same reli g ion ." Triandis (1960)  (1) Formal Social Acceptance, whi ch included such items as, "I would admire the ideas of" "I would ask for opinion of", etc.
(2) Marital Acceptance, which included such items as, "Fall in love wi th " "Go out on a date with", etc .
(3) Friendship Acceptance, which included such items as, "Accept as an intimate friend" "Go fishing with", etc.
(4) Hostile Acceptance, which includt:li such items as, "Permit to do me a favor" "Admit as a tourist in my country", etc.
Interacti on wi'th Superiors -Subordinates, which includes such items as, "Re commended by" I n examining these fac t ors Triandis an d Davis (1965) f ound t!'lat only some of' the fact ors supported the earlier co nte ntion that race i s t he most important variable for social distance and prejudice.
The y f ound that Factor l is responded to on the basis of perceived b eli e f and also , depending upon the level of prejudice of the subject , i t was found that },actors 3 and 5 il.i::ted simila r ly . Only Factors 2 and 4 were r esponded to on the b asis of r ace per~ and these items,  Rokeach and Mezei (1966) studied the same issues using the second paradigm.
In the 1966 study their method was as follows: A naive subjec t engages four strangers, confeder ates of the experimen~er, in a grou p discussion about 9.n important or situationally relevant topic . Two of the confederates are white and two are Negro . One white and one Negro agree with the subject, and one white and one Negro disagree with him . The sub j e ,'.!t -Ls then asked to state preference for two of the four confederates.

6
One cf the situations involved a university setting apd the other involved a situation ir. which subjects were actua.l job applicants.
Using the two paradigms , both the 1960 study (Rokeach,  The present study is conc erned with the effects of race and belief on information -seeking behavior and the soci.al situation involved will be limited to the selection of potential roommates.

Hypotheses
The hypotheses which underlie the study are as follows: (1) The similarity or dissimilarity of a prospective roommate's attitudes will affect the amount of information used to select er reject him .
(2) The race of a prospective ro ommate will affect the amount of information used to select or reject him .
(3) There is an interaction between race and belief which will affect the amount o f information used to select a prospective roommate . (2) feel they shouldn ' t and (1) strongly feel they shouldn't.
The attitude questionnaire is similar to many which were used in earlier studies by Rokeach, Smith, and Evans (1960 Subj e cts were f irst asked to complete the 25-item attitu de quest i onnai r e . I nstruct i ons wer e as follo ws: "We ar e in t eres t ed in the p r ocess of selec t i on of ro ommates at un i versities. The questionna i re you have been given offe r s you the opportun i ty to express some of your ideas rega r ding t h e qua l ities you feel are desirable in a ro ommate for you . Each i te m is a descrip t ion of a quali t y which a ro ommate might or might not have . You are to express your feeli ngs as to how des ir ab le each quality for a pr ospec t ive roommate of yo ur s is by indicating af t er eac h item whethe r yo u s t rongly f e el they should have the quali t y , should hav e the quality , don ' t care , feel they shouldn ' t or strongly feel t hey sh ouldn't . To do this ci r cl e t h e appropriate l etter . Are t here any questi ons ? " Interpha s e I nterv al During the inte r phase interval fo ur " stimulus pr otocols " for each subject were constructed. The " stimulus protocols " we r e construct e d on the basis of e ach subj ect's attitude questionnaire in order t o appe a r s imilar or di ss imila r to that subject . The " stimulus protocols 11 were de signed to rep r esent four combinations : black ind i Yidual w::. th sim il ar att it u d.es , bl a ck in dividual with You are t o look at the photographs provided and rat e them for the amount of information you feel they provide, which tells you the kind cf person they are in r eal life.
If you feel t he photo -graJ:h gives you li ttle or no information about what the person is really like ra te the photograp h as 11 low information 11 • If you f eel that the photograph gives a lot of feelin g for what the person is like in real life rate the photograph as "high information 11 • Use the rati ng of "medium inf ormat io n " if the amount of information you fee l is provided is somewhere between low and hig h . You are to consider such characteristics as sccial class, economic class, aggressiveness , passiveness , serious student type of individual , spor ts -living type of individual , etc.
The photo graphs which were used were generally rated as providing little or no information regarding the above characteristics . varied on the two dimensions ra ce and belief . Instructions were as I~ollo ws : "As you may recall we are doing some research inv ol ving the selection of r oommates . Many univer sit ies hire traine d professionals to aid i n the selection of r oommates.
We have reason to believe that certain students can make judgme nts about ro o:amates which will be just as good as the judgments made by the professionals . However , we are not only interested in comparing your d-=cisions abo ut ~ootl!'llates with prof-=ssionals but also comparing the arr.aunt of information you use to ma~e thos~ decisions.
You have been given some envelopes which cont -=-.in information similar to the questionnaire you filled out four weeks ago . This information comes from a student who is seeking a roommate.
Each envelope represe nts one ~iece of information and you are to decide whet her you would want this in dividual for a roommate. However, you should consider that each bit of information costs something because the more information one requires the more extra time and people are required for its processing. Therefore , you should make your decision on the basis of the minimum information needed to make a decision that is comfortable for you. With some roommate applicants the professionals use a great deal of information and with others a small amount of information.
We are interested, therefore, not only in whether your decision is the same as the professionals but how much information is used by you in coming to your decision.
Begin with the first envelope and continue to use subsequent envelopes until you feel you are able to make a comfortable decision as to whether or not you would want the individual for a roommate.
When you have made your decision put a check in the appropriate box and record the number of envelopes you have opened." J:6 CHAPI'ER III

Effects
of Similarity and Race on Inf ormati on Seeking Behavior    Ap:pa:r-entl~-" the subjects involved in the present study were ab le ea sily to s 2ek , find, a...."ld to utili:?.e accurs.teJ.y similar and dissimilar information without conf ound in g by race.
The lack of overa ll effect of the racial variable seems in contradition to the vie ws of both Triandis and Dienstb i er.
Another view exp r essed by Dienstbier (1972 , p. 160) is as fol l ows: "There may indeed be times when a greater reliance on one or the other (race or belief -author ' s note) of those constructs may prov i de us greate r succe s s in the predictionm unQerstanding, and control of certain behaviors, but these are concepts so different in structure that they can neither be logica lly compared for relative stren gth , nor can they be houristically seen as hJ.e:rarchically arranged . They held , instead , relationships with each other most fru i tfully seen as mut ually causal or interactive ." No interaction between race and belief was observed on th e 23 sampl e studied . Perhaps , as noted belo w these interaction s do not depend on the situation at all , but rather on the type of the individual s involved , that is, prejudiced or non -prejudiced.

With r egar d to
Dienstbier ' s question of hierarchical arrangement , it would seem that in the sampl e studied the question of similarity or dissimila r ity of belief was the sal i ent characteristic predicting the behavior , rathe r than r ace.
Because of the conflicting views and other discrepancies regardi ng race and its effect on the behavior of individuals, it would seem worthwhile to consider explicitly what the possibilities are which might accoun t for the results of the present study . The following possibilities are presented: 1.
There is no effect of race on information -seeking b;-;havior.

Race is not a salient variable
for the se l ection of rcommates in the sample studied.
3. The salience of race as a control factor in information -seeking behavior is an individual matter and not enough individuals for whom thi s variable is salient were sampled.
4. Whatever effect race has on information -seeking behavior, it was rendered inoperable due to the powerful salience of similarity or dissimilar i ty of attitude .

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The notion , in the first possibility , that race has no effect on information -seeking behavior not only fails to be tenable empirica l ly , but also fails to be supported by other informa t ion -seeking paradigms .
For example, Kogen and Wallach (1964)  This is a hypothesis which can be t ested directly by using i ndependent measures of prejudice and observin g their relationship to differential amounts of information -seeking for white versus black potential roommates.
That is, the hypothesis leads to the prediction that the higher the information -seeking differential is in the selection of white versus black potential roommates the higher the probability is that scores on independent measures of prejudice will be positive.