Group Identity and Social Attitudes of African-American Freshmen

Abstract

This study examined how African American students' attitudes and beliefs change as they align with ingroups and differentiate from outgroups upon entering a predominantly Anglo environment. Eighty-five African-American freshmen participated in two sessions five months apart. In each session, participants indicated their own attitudes and attributes and those of their valued ingroup and derogated outgroup. These attributes covered 5 domains including: campus life, political philosophy, social issues, fashion and taste, and leisure activities. Overall, a tendency emerged, especially on issues of fashion and taste, for participants to rate themselves closer to the group than the outgroup. This tendency was not, however, found consistent across domains and did not increase from first to second assessment. Contrary to predictions, greater similarity to ingroup was not strongly related to self-esteem.