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.

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.