The goal of the proposed research is to better understand how members of stigmatized and nonstigmatized socio-cultural groups (e.g., racial, gender groups) interact with one another given different explicit goals for the interaction. The proposed studies all examine the influence of participants' social identity characteristics and goals on the cognition (Studies 1a. and 1b.), affect (Studies 2a. and 2b.), and behavior (Study 3). Preliminary findings suggest that members of stigmatized and nonstigmatized groups interpret explicitly introduced interaction goals differently when engaged in intergroup interactions. For instance, White females seemed to interpret the goal to """"""""get along"""""""" differently when interacting with an African American female, than when interacting with another White female. One of the specific aims of this research is to merge theory from intergroup relations and interpersonal relations to gain a better understanding of dyadic interactions between members of different groups. Research on dyadic interactions has almost exclusively focused on the influence of functional factors such as goals and motives, while research on intergroup interactions has focused on the impact of structural factors such as social identity group membership. However, little work has examined the competing influences of functional and structural factors in dyadic interactions between members of different groups. The findings of this research will have serious implications for the mental health of both members of low status and high status groups who interact in any number of everyday dyadic interactions (e.g., employer/employee, student/teacher) in a culture with a deeply rooted history of prejudice and discrimination.
