Leveraging Motivational Mindsets to Foster Positive Interracial Interactions

As the United States becomes increasingly diverse, interracial contact will become considerably less rare. Much research has suggested that interracial interactions are often stressful and uncomfortable for both Whites and racial minorities. Bringing together several bodies of research, the present article outlines a motivational perspective on the dynamics of intergroup contact. To this end, we consider the roles of three motivational mindsets that have the potential to shape interactions to be less cognitively depleting and more enjoyable for both interactants. In particular, we consider the effects of (i) approach and avoidance motivation (Handbook of Motivation and Cognition: Foundation of Social Behavior, 1990, New York: Guilford Press), (ii) promotion and prevention regulatory focus (American Psychologist, 52, 1997, 1280), and (iii) learning and performance goals (Psychological Review, 95, 1988, 256) in shaping the dynamics of interracial contact. We suggest that investigations into these motivational mindsets will offer further insight into how and why interracial interactions go awry and will assist in the development of strategies and interventions that facilitate more smooth and enjoyable contact experiences. As the United States becomes increasingly diverse, interracial contact will become considerably less rare. Although increased interracial contact may have positive effects over time (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006), interracial interactions are often experienced as distressing for both Whites and racial minorities (Blascovich, Mendes, Hunter, Lickel, & Kowai-Bell, 2001; Page-Gould, Mendoza-Denton, & Tropp, 2008; Stephan & Stephan, 1985). Moreover, even brief interactions with those from different racial groups have been shown to impair, albeit temporarily, aspects of cognitive functioning (Richeson & Shelton, 2003; Richeson, Trawalter, & Shelton, 2005). Cognitive resources are important in interactions because they facilitate positive verbal and non-verbal behavior and promote interpersonal engagement during the interaction. Given the potential long-term benefits of intergroup contact – including meaningful reductions in prejudice (Brown & Hewstone, 2005; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006) – it is important to identify strategies that people can employ during interracial interactions that will engender positive experiences while avoiding these affective and cognitive costs (Richeson & Shelton, 2007; Shelton & Richeson, 2006). To that end, researchers have considered and even undertaken a number of interventions aimed at facilitating positive intergroup experiences and, ultimately, reducing prejudice (e.g., Allport, 1954; Brewer & Brown, 1998; Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000). Studies have, for instance, manipulated the structural conditions of the contact experience (e.g., whether it is cooperative versus competitive; whether individuals’ category memberships are salient, etc.) to ascertain which conditions foster positive experiences and the most prejudice reduction (for reviews, see Brown & Hewstone, 2005 and Pettigrew & Tropp, Social and Personality Psychology Compass 5/2 (2011): 118–131, 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00338.x a 2011 The Authors Social and Personality Psychology Compass a 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006). Studies have also investigated the influences of different affective and cognitive strategies for intergroup contact (e.g., perspective-taking; focus on similarities versus differences; imagined intergroup contact) and examined how different ideologies regarding diversity (e.g., colorblindness versus multiculturalism) affect intergroup contact dynamics (Crisp & Turner, 2009; Mallett & Wilson, 2010; Saguy, Tausch, Dovidio, & Pratto, 2009; Todd, Bodenhausen, Richeson, & Galinsky, forthcoming; Vorauer, Gagnon, & Sasaki, 2009). In this article, we seek to further the search for interventions to improve intergroup contact by outlining a motivational perspective on the dynamics of interracial interactions. Unlike many of the interventions examined previously, the aim of a motivational approach is to identify strategies that will create positive experiences during interracial interactions. In other words, this paper considers the potential for acute interventions that target individuals’ motivational orientations upon entering interracial interactions to make those contact experiences more positive. Specifically, we consider the effects of three motivational mindsets on interracial interactions: (i) approach and avoidance motivation (Carver & Scheier, 1990), (ii) promotion and prevention regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997), and (iii) learning and performance goals (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). The Cognitive Dynamics of Interracial Contact Our interest in these motivational approaches to intergroup contact stems from a line of research that has demonstrated how effortful regulation of one’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior affects individuals’ interracial contact experiences. Most notably, a substantial body of research has now examined how the deployment of effortful self-control in the service of navigating interracial interactions depletes cognitive resources (see Richeson & Shelton, 2007). The extant data suggest that interracial contact is often perceived as a stressor, triggering physiological, emotional, and behavioral reactions (Blascovich et al., 2001; Page-Gould et al., 2008; Stephan & Stephan, 1985; Trawalter, Richeson, & Shelton, 2009). To cope with this stress, people deploy self-regulatory effort (i.e., self-control) to manage their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors during the interaction. According to recent models of self-control, however, engagement in one task that requires self-control (e.g., suppressing negative thoughts, controlling one’s behavior, self-presentation) impairs performance on subsequent tasks that tap the same resource (Baumeister, Vohs, & Tice, 2007; Vohs et al., 2008). Thus, interracial contact impairs performance on tasks that require cognitive resources to the extent that individuals engage in self-control during the encounter (see Figure 1). Over the past few years, considerable empirical support has bolstered this hypothesis (e.g., Apfelbaum & Sommers, 2009; Apfelbaum, Sommers, & Norton, 2008; Gailliot, Plant, Butz, & Baumeister, 2007; Richeson & Shelton, 2003; Richeson et al., 2005). Many of these studies, conducted primarily in North American contexts, involve White or racial minority participants engaging in brief, interview-like interactions with either a White or racial minority experimenter. Afterward, their performance on a task that is known to require executive control is measured. For instance, the Stroop color-naming task, which involves the inhibition of dominant responses and requires cognitive attentional capacity (Engle, 2002), may be administered after the interaction. Poor performance on the Stroop task following an interaction suggests that people are cognitively ‘worn out’ by the interaction. Consistent with the prediction that interracial contact consumes cognitive resources, research has shown that White individuals perform more poorly on the Stroop task after interracial, compared with same-race, contact (Richeson Motivation and Interracial Interactions 119 a 2011 The Authors Social and Personality Psychology Compass 5/2 (2011): 118–131, 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00338.x Social and Personality Psychology Compass a 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd & Shelton, 2003). Furthermore, the greater both White and Black individuals’ automatic racial bias, the worse their Stroop performance after interracial contact (Richeson et al., 2005). In addition to these effects of racial attitudes, some of the difficulties that White individuals experience during interracial interactions have been linked to their concerns about appearing prejudiced (Plant & Devine, 2003). Research suggests that interracial interactions are especially likely to heighten concerns about appearing prejudiced for members of dominant racial groups (Shelton & Richeson, 2006; Shelton, Richeson, & Vorauer, 2006; Vorauer, 2006; Vorauer, Hunter, Main, & Roy, 2000). In order to avoid appearing prejudiced, Whites have been found to regulate their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors (e.g., Monteith, 1993). Considering this work in tandem with Baumeister’s strength model of self-control, concerns about appearing prejudiced should result in greater cognitive depletion after interracial interactions. Consistent with this prediction, Richeson and Trawalter (2005) found that increasing or decreasing Whites’ prejudice concerns prior to interracial (but not same-race) contact resulted in a commensurate increase or decrease in their cognitive impairment following the interaction. Although these results may seem to imply that people should perhaps not attempt to regulate the expression of prejudice, other studies have convincingly demonstrated that individuals’ self-regulatory efforts are integral to the ultimate elimination of their prejudiced attitudes (e.g., Monteith, 1993). Moreover, research has found that, at least under certain circumstances, these self-control efforts can yield positive interpersonal outcomes (Shelton, Richeson, Salvatore, & Trawalter, 2005b; see also Gonsalkorale, von Hippel, Sherman, & Klauer, 2009). For example, Shelton et al. (2005b) found that Blacks liked higher-bias White interaction partners more than lower-bias partners because they were perceived to be more engaged during the interaction (cf. Vorauer & Turpie, 2004). Presumably, higher-bias Whites’ efforts to regulate their behavior so as not to appear prejudiced resulted in the display of more engaged behavior during the interaction compared with lower-bias Whites. In other words, higher-bias Whites’ self-control efforts can be effective in shaping more enjoyable interactions for their Black interaction partners. Taken together, this work implies a fairly provocative dynamic. Self-regulation in the service of negotiating interracial contact often results in negative cognitive outcomes for the self (i.e., depletion) but relatively positive interpersonal outcomes (partner liking; Shelton, Richeson, & Salvatore, 2005a). Consequently, it is important to explore alternate means by which people might foster positive interracial interactions, without suffering the cognitive costs associated with effortful self-control. The present work considers whether Motivational orientation Activated intergroup contact concerns Whites Selfcontrol Intra-personal outcomes Interpersonal outcomes Racial minorities Approach-avoidance motivation Promotion-prevention focus Learning-performance goals Appearing prejudiced Thoughts Executive attentional capacity Self-control failure/cognitive depletion