BLACK AND WHITE AMERICANS’ REACTIONS TO PARTNER CONTENT STRATEGIES IN INTERRACIAL INTERACTIONS

Self-disclosure in interracial interactions can foster friendship and reduce prejudice. However, it is unclear how individuals respond when self-disclosure is solicited from a different-raced interaction partner. Such solicitations may communicate interest and liking (thus fostering positive impressions) or they may violate social norms discouraging intimacy in interracial interactions (thus fostering negative impressions). We tested these competing hypotheses among Black Americans and White Americans, who were led to believe they were about to engage in an interaction with either a Black or White partner who either invited self-disclosure or did not based on the topics they asked the participant to discuss. A series of Partner Race x Conversation Topic interactions revealed that Black participants did not form more negative impressions of White partners who broached intimate topics but formed more negative impressions of White partners who avoided intimacy. White participants’ impressions of White partners did not vary as a function of intimacy level. However, White participants formed less positive impressions of Black partners who posed high relative to low intimacy questions.