We examined Blacks' and Whites' perceptions of group variability and positivity as well as their beliefs about the extent to which multiculturalism and colorblindness would improve intergroup relations. In two studies, responses to questionnaires indicated that the tendency to endorse multiculturalism more than colorblindness was greater among Blacks than Whites; Blacks consistently endorsed multiculturalism more than colorblindness and Whites endorsed colorblindness more than did Blacks. Both studies also revealed evidence of out-group homogeneity and ethnocentrism. Stronger endorsement of multiculturalism relative to colorblindness predicted stronger stereotypes among Blacks, whereas stronger endorsement of colorblindness relative to multiculturalism predicted stronger stereotypes among Whites. In Study 2, stronger endorsement of multiculturalism relative to colorblindness predicted less ethnocentrism; this relationship did not depend on ethnicity

Much recent work on stereotyping has dealt with groups that are either artificially created or that do not have an extensive history of conflict. The authors attempted to overcome this limitation by examining issues of perceived variability and ethnocentrism among samples of White American and African American youth. The goals were both to examine theoretical issues in stereotyping and to describe the current state of ethnic interrelations among young people. Four studies are reported. Throughout, the samples of African Americans demonstrate interethnic judgments that are consistent with existing work on stereotyping and ethnocentrism. White American students, however, reported judgements that replicate neither the out-group homogeneity effect nor ethnocentrism. Alternative explanations for this difference are considered, and the discussion focuses on differing views concerning the role of ethnic identity and diversity in our society.

Five aspects of the complexity of the knowledge representation of business and engineering majors were examined to see whether these differed by group membership and whether these differences were related to differences in perceived variability. Significantly more subgroups were generated when describing the in-group than the out-group; this difference predicted the relative tendency to see the in-group as more variable, and when controlled for statistically, out-group homogeneity effects were eliminated. Familiarity, redundancy, number of attributes used to describe the group, and the deviance of the subgroups from the larger group generally showed differences for in-group and out-group but did not show consistent evidence of mediation. In a 2nd study, Ss who were asked to sort group members into meaningful subgroups perceived greater variability relative to those who did not perform the sorting task.

The accuracy of in-group and out-group variability judgments was examined by comparing those judgments with the variability of self-ratings provided by random samples of group members. Following Park and Judd (1990), perceptions of both group dispersion and group stereotypicality were examined. Accuracy was examined both by within-subject sensitivity correlations and by simple discrepancies between perceived and actual variability estimates. In-group-out-group differences in sensitivity were shown, particularly for judgments of stereotypicality. These differences were related to differences in the degree to which out-group variability is underestimated relative to in-group variability (i.e., the out-group homogeneity effect). Out-group stereotypicality judgments were overestimated, supporting the view that out-group stereotypes are overgeneralizations. Whether dispersion judgments were over- or underestimated depended on their measurement.

We examined endorsement of multicultural, assimilation, and colorblind ideologies, including their relations to stereotyping and in-group bias, among community samples of Latinos and non-Latino Whites. Participants also completed measures of their orientations to Latino and non-Latino White cultures. Analyses indicated that participants endorsed multiculturalism more strongly than colorblindness and colorblindness more strongly than assimilation. Although Latinos endorsed multiculturalism more strongly than did Whites, ratings of colorblindness and assimilation did not differ. Both groups exhibited in-group bias and out-group homogeneity. However, multiculturalism was associated with lower in-group bias. Further, Latinos who more strongly endorsed multiculturalism perceived less within group variability (i.e., had stronger stereotypes), whereas the reverse was true for Whites. Finally, analyses of cultural orientation measures indicated that ethnicity is not synonymous with cultural orientation; Latinos were equally oriented to Latino and White cultures, overall, and Latino and White American orientations were unrelated.Although a great deal of research has examined intergroup perceptions among a variety of social categories and groups, few social psychological studies have examined stereotyping and in-group favoritism among Latinos and non-Latino White Americans (Dovidio, Gluszek, John, Ditlmann, & Lagunes, this issue). Understanding how the members of these groups perceive their in-groups and outgroups is becoming increasingly important, given the dramatic increase in the U.S. Latino population and thus the frequency and variety of intergroup experiences.In this article, we present research examining intergroup perceptions and multicultural, assimilation, and colorblind ideologies among community samples of Latinos and non-Latino Whites in the United States. We also explore the role of