Intergroup anxiety arises from innocent causes like ignorance, not racism

Evidence

A second approach stays at the individual level but investigates the causes and consequences of individuals’ emotional reactions, for example, in face-to-face encounters with members of outgroups. A number of approaches have emphasized different emotions that can arise in intergroup encounters. These emotions are assumed to be largely negative, but can include several distinct emotions (beyond just anger and hate). Dijker (1987), for example, found that irritation often resulted from personal encounters with outgroup members (especially those who are culturally different). For example, in one study, Dutch respondents reported feeling irritation especially in encounters with Turks and Moroccans, the minority groups most culturally different from the Dutch themselves. The aversive racism (Gaertner & Dovidio, 1986) and the intergroup anxiety (Stephan & Stephan, 1985) approaches both focus on feelings of unease and anxiety in intergroup interaction. These emotions arise from more or less “innocent” (at least nonracist) causes, such as a lack of knowledge about the outgroup, fear of unintentionally giving offense, and general lack of necessary interactional skills for intergroup interaction. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2258

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to intergroup contact theory and emotional prejudice literature; also to the reader’s work on moral panics over immodest dress where discomfort rather than hatred drives rejection.