Abstract
Northern Negroes and whites at varying levels of participation in college student civil rights groups were compared with selected groups of northern, Negro non-members of civil rights groups on a number of personality and demographic variables (race, geographic location). Negro Actives showed more repression and ego strength than Negto non-actives. White Actives showed less social approval motivation and less repression than Negro Actives. In contrast to studies of southern Negroes, in this study, Negro Actives came from a lower socioeconomic background than Negro non-actives; internal vs external control of reinforcement and number of non-civil rights group memberships were unrelated to civil rights activity level. Factors other than activity level are important in predicting personality and demographic differences among civil rights activists and non-activists. The importance of additonal empirical research is also discussed.
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