Perceived proprietary right to resources and its role in reciprocal prejudices between Black and Asian Americans.

I offer a new measure of perceived proprietary right (PPR) to resources as an operationalization of one critical aspect of Harold Blumer's group threat theory. Black (n = 82), Asian (n = 72), and White (n = 176) participants completed PPR items in the context of a residential resource allocation task designed to evoke competitive threat. A four-factor model of PPR was established through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. For Black participants, competitive threat was directly related to anti-Asian prejudice. For Asian participants, competitive threat was related to anti-Black prejudice indirectly, through belief in merit as a source of PPR. Moderated parallel mediation models also uncovered PPR beliefs - on the basis of past oppression and outsider status - as possible sources of allyship between Black and Asian community members. Findings are discussed in relation to Black and Asian relations specifically and the contribution of PPR to intergroup relations more generally.

The measurement of interpersonal interactions with continuous spatiotemporal data: Application to a study of the effects of resource competition on racial group interactions.

We describe a sequential qualitative ➔ quantitative mixed-method procedure used to construct conceptually grounded quantitative metrics of interpersonal behavior from continuous spatiotemporal data. Metrics were developed from data collected during an experiment in which racially diverse participants interacted with self-resembling avatars at social events hosted in the virtual world Second Life. In the qualitative stage, the researchers conceptualized four distinct patterns of movement from overhead video recreations of participants interacting during the social events. In the quantitative stage, these patterns of movement were operationalized into metrics to reflect each type of observed interpersonal behavior. The metrics were normalized through a series of transformations, and construct validity was assessed through correlations with self-report measures of intergroup behavior. Finally, the metrics were applied to an analysis of the virtual-world study examining the influence of resource competition on racial group interactions. The findings contribute to our understanding of the influence of resource competition on Blacks', Asians', and Whites' group dynamics. Applications of these metrics for the future of the psychological study of interpersonal behavior are discussed.

The Beliefs About Race Scale (BARS): Dimensions of racial essentialism and their psychometric properties.

OBJECTIVES: Recent studies have found that racial essentialism negatively affects intergroup behavior (e.g., willingness to relate across outgroups), however this line of inquiry has been limited by 1-dimensional measures of racial essentialism. This paper provides psychometric support for the Beliefs About Race Scale (BARS), a multidimensional measure of racial essentialism. METHOD: Participants included 492 adults recruited on a college campus and in the community. BARS items were developed by the researcher and were subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and reliability and validity analyses. Hierarchical regressions examined the relation of BARS subscales to outgroup discomfort. RESULTS: Analyses supported a 4-factor model of racial essentialism, with good internal and test-retest reliability and construct validity. Two BARS subscales predicted outgroup discomfort above and beyond the effects of previous measures of racial and psychological essentialism. CONCLUSION: Greater specification of racial essentialism offered by the BARS subscales should aid researchers in furthering our understanding of how racial essentialism affects intergroup behavior and the role of education in challenging people's essentialist beliefs about race. (PsycINFO Database Record

Asymmetric peer selections among Blacks, Asians, and Whites in a virtual environment: Preliminary evidence for triangulated threat theory.

Black, Asian, and White participants (N = 210) created self-resembling avatars and engaged in peer-selection tasks during social events in the virtual world, Second Life, that were designed to simulate various types of resource competition. Participants in merit-based resource competition settings had less diversity in their peer groups compared to participants in settings where no resource competition was present, and Asian participants had lower preference for Black peers. Furthermore, these relationships were mediated by out-group discomfort. Results are discussed in relation to partial support for triangulated threat theory of group relations among Blacks, Asians, and Whites.