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Three studies examined the implications of nationalistic ideologies and exposure to the U.S. flag for the activation of egalitarian concepts and outgroup hostility. Study 1 demonstrated that subliminal exposure to the U.S. flag activated participants' egalitarian concepts. In Study 2, highly nationalistic participants who were exposed to the U.S. flag reported less hostility than did those not exposed to the flag, whereas the flag did not influence the hostility of participants low in nationalism. Study 3 demonstrated that for participants high in nationalism, greater activation of egalitarian concepts on subliminal exposure to the U.S. flag was associated with less hostility toward Arabs and Muslims in the presence of the U.S. flag. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Background This study explored the use of interface agents, anthropomorphic, 3D‐animated computer characters that provide teaching or mentoring within a computer‐based learning environment, to encourage young Black and White women to pursue careers in engineering. Purpose (Hypothesis) We hypothesized that computer‐based models that matched young women in terms of their race and gender would be the most effective in positively influencing their interest, self‐efficacy, and stereotypes about engineering. Design/Method Eighty African American undergraduate female students in Experiment 1, and 39 White undergraduate female students in Experiment 2 interacted with a computer‐based agent that provided a narrative designed to encourage them to pursue engineering careers. The study employed a 2 × 2 between subjects factorial design (agent gender: male vs. female and agent race: Black vs. White). Results Across both studies we found that race and gender influenced the effectiveness of the agent for several key outcome measures. Computer‐based agents who matched the participants with respect to race and gender tended to be the most effective in improving the women's responses to engineering‐related fields. Nevertheless, the White male agent was actually significantly more influential than the White female agent for female Black participants. Conclusions Personalizing interface agent characteristics to match the target population can increase the effectiveness of a persuasive message to encourage young women to pursue engineering. Such an approach may contribute to the growth and inclusiveness of fields such as engineering.

The current work examined Black and White people’s expectancies for interracial interactions. Across two studies, we found that Black people, compared to White people, had more positive past interracial contact, which statistically explained Black compared to White people’s greater self-efficacy for interracial interactions. This self-efficacy, in turn, contributed to less of a desire to avoid future interracial interactions (Study 2) and partially accounted for race differences in actual amounts of subsequent interracial contact (Study 1). However, Black participants also had heightened concerns about being the target of bias in interracial interactions, which contributed to responses to imagined future interactions. These findings suggest that cultural experiences affect individuals’ expectancies for interracial interactions and that these expectancies, in turn, have consequences for the quality and quantity of interracial contact.

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