Race, sex, and belief as determinants of friendship acceptance.
By Smith, Carole R.; Williams, Lev; Willis, Richard H.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol 5(2), Feb 1967, 127-137.
Abstract
6 samples (total N = 307) of white and Negro Ss from northern, border, and southern states rated the friendship acceptance of stimulus persons of specified race, sex, and belief on 1 of 8 general or Negro-white issues. For all samples except 1, belief congruence was more important for acceptance than similarity of race; race, in turn, was more important than similarity of sex. For the southernmost white sample (Louisiana), race was the most important factor by a slight margin, while sex was again least important. Interactions were negligible, except for a renegade effect observed in all 3 Negro samples--members of the racial ingroup were consistently penalized more for disagreeing than were members of the outgroup. None of the samples exhibited "true" discrimination (negative correlation between acceptance of ingroup and outgroup), although the southern white sample exhibited a significant tendency towards true racial discrimination, while all 3 Negro samples showed significant tendencies towards true belief discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)