Prejudice and Hostile Behavior: A Laboratory Study of an Attitude-Behavior Relationship

Abstract

This research examined the relationship between several measures of prejudice toward blacks and a type of overt behavior, shock-giving, directed toward a black. The opportunity to shock either a black or white trainee was given to 69 student subjects, who had previously completed a questionnaire measure of prejudice, in a situation where they served as trainers in a Buss-type learning experiment. The study employed a correlational analysis and an analysis of variance based on a 3×2×2×3 factorial design with three treatment factors: prejudice scale score, sex, and race of victim; and one repeated measure subject factor, trials. There were substantial correlations between both self-rating and peer-rating of prejudice and shock intensity for those who shocked a black. Questionnaire prejudice, however, had low correlations with shock intensity, and there were no significant direct or interaction effects in the analysis of variance.