Belief similarity and interracial attraction.

The controversy over whether belief similarity-dissimilarity or racial group membership is the primary determinant of attraction is an issue that has been studied with increased interest in the past ten years. In addition to the difficulties already noted, many of these studies have not controlled for the subject's prejudice, even though in other studies, it has been clearly shown that individual differences in prejudice affect the subjects' responses. In further specifying the boundary conditions of race versus belief studies, it would seem important to specify exactly what is meant by belief similarity. In reviewing the literature, one finds that belief similarity has been manipulated on a variety of different items. The purpose of the present experiment is to investigate the specific effects of different types of belief similarity, that is, to specify the boundary conditions of the belief similarity variable by systematically manipulating belief similarity on racially related and racially unrelated items and determining their effect on interracial attraction. An attempt will also be made to determine whether findings in the general area of attraction can be applied to interracial attraction.