Friendships Influence Hispanic Students' Implicit Attitudes Toward White Non-Hispanics Relative to African Americans

Abstract

This study examined the role of Hispanic students' friendships with White non-Hispanics (n-Hs) and African Americans (AAs) in predicting implicit and explicit prejudices toward these groups. Participants ( N = 73) completed implicit and explicit attitude measures and a friendship questionnaire. Friendships were associated with implicit attitudes such that participants with more White n-H than AA friends exhibited implicit favoritism for White n-Hs. Friendships did not influence explicit attitudes. The authors discuss findings relative to the unique contributions Hispanic samples make to research on the contact hypothesis, systems justification, and environmental association models of implicit attitudes.