Stereotype Threat in Interracial Interactions

This chapter adopts a stereotype threat perspective to examine dynamics of interracial interactions. We first review relevant literature suggesting that both white and racial minority individuals are likely to experience stereotype threat during interracial interactions. We focus on the threat of being perceived as stereotypical of one's racial/ethnic group as the primary trigger of such threat reactions. Next, we examine the cognitive consequences of harboring such prejudice concerns during interracial interactions and consider the relation between these outcomes and those found in work specifically designed to examine the cognitive component processes of stereotype threat. Later, we consider the potential consequences of stereotype threat during interracial interactions for individuals' experiences during those interactions, as well as the experiences had by their interaction partners. We close the chapter with a brief discussion of the potential theoretical and practical implications of these dynamics.