Carl Word and his colleagues (1974) found that white college students, who were assumed to already hold prejudiced attitudes toward blacks, sat farther away, conducted briefer interviews, and made more speech errors when interviewing black students. Which of the following constructs most readily explains the results of this study?
A)Social identity bias
B)Group polarization
C)Stereotype threat
D)Self-fulfilling prophecies

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The results of the study by Carl Word and colleagues can be best explained by the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies. This concept suggests that people's expectations about someone can lead to behaviors that cause those expectations to come true. In this case, the prejudiced attitudes of the white college students likely led them to behave in ways that could have negatively affected the performance or comfort of the black students being interviewed, thus reinforcing the initial prejudiced attitudes.

Carl Word and His Colleagues (1974) Found That White College