Race,Shared Belief,and Acceptance of Returned Prisoners: An Old Issue Re-Opened

Abstract

In attempting to resolve the issue of race vs shared belief in racial prejudice, Triandis suggested that race would be more important in intimate relationships and shared belief in less intimate relationships. The present research both tested this finding and sought to determine if a similar pattern applied to acceptance of returned prisoners. 96 university students responded to a behavioral differential questionnaire which was analyzed by an ex post facto experimental design. Three research hypotheses were formulated to test the importance of the degree-of-intimacy dimension, and none were supported. It is concluded that more work is needed before the race-versus-shared-belief issue can be considered properly resolved.