Avoidance of outgroup members can stem from anxiety and unease rather than hatred

Evidence

Beginning in the late 1980s, though, and continuing with ever greater momentum into the early and middle 1990s, researchers rediscovered the importance of emotions in intergroup relations. One early example is research by Dijker (1987) on the specific emotions (such as irritation and resentment) that people feel in encounters with individual outgroup members. Around the same time, Gaertner and Dovidio (1986) developed “aversive racism” theory, which posits that many Whites avoid interaction with Blacks or other minorities not because they hate them, but simply because interacting with outgroup members arouses negative emotions of unease, anxiety, and uncertainty (see also the concept of intergroup anxiety, Stephan & Stephan, 1985, and ch. 26 this volume). Also in the 1980s, Sears (ch. 21 this volume) developed “symbolic racism” theory, which holds that early-socialized negative affect toward outgroups is an important component of current forms of prejudice. Within a few years, Mackie and Hamilton (1993) edited a volume collecting numerous chapters on the theme of affective-cognitive interactions in stereotyping and prejudice. A new area for investigation had clearly opened up, and new theoretical ideas began to emerge, which considered a broader range of emotions – such as irritation, anxiety, guilt, and even positive emotions– and not only the anger and hatred that Allport had discussed. — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2254

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to general work on prejudice intergroup relations and emotional drivers of avoidance behavior - parallels to other social-psych sources on microaggressions and implicit bias. — connects to: Negative outgroup contact raises anxiety, which breeds hostility and contact avoidance. — Blake M. Riek, Eric W. Mania, and Samuel L. Gaertner, Intergroup Threat and Outgroup…, 47
• DEFINE: Defines the aversive racism and symbolic racism theories as emotion-based alternatives to Allport’s anger-and-hatred account.