Race, adjustment, and rejection

Investigated the expectation that a member of a minority cultural or racial group exhibiting deviant behavior, as portrayed in a pencil-and-paper study, would be socially rejected in U.S. and 2 Canadian universities. 482 undergraduates were randomly administered 1 of 6 brief case studies (a combination of 1 of 2 racial descriptions and 1 of 3 levels of adjustment), followed by a social tolerance and help source scale. Results contrary to expectation, yet consistent across all 3 populations, were obtained. Results appear to be congruent with a number of other studies and are explained in terms of the greater rejection of someone similar (i.e., racial background) to oneself who behaves in a deviant or negatively valued manner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).