Automatically activated racial attitudes as predictors of the success of interracial roommate relationships

Study 1 indicated that roommate relationships involving randomly paired interracial freshmen were characterized by less extensive joint activity and were more likely to dissolve than those involving randomly paired White freshmen. Study 2 explored whether the automatically activated racial attitudes of White freshmen who had been randomly assigned to share rooms with Black freshmen would predict the stability and duration of the roommate relationships. The racial attitudes of the White freshmen were measured unobtrusively via a priming procedure at the beginning of the fall semester. White students’ automatically activated racial attitudes, but not their motivation to control prejudiced reactions, predicted the longevity of the relationships. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.