The effects of subject race and sex and experimenter race upon classroom-related risk-taking behavior

Abstract

Students, placed in a college test-taking atmosphere, chose comparison-level feedback, consisting of either “poor,” “average,” or “superior” standards of performance achieved by previous students. This choice of comparison level is assumed to be similar to risk-taking behavior. Results showed that students (black or white) exhibited more risk taking (chose a higher comparison level) in the presence of an E (teacher) of their own race. Furthermore, an interaction of S sex and race was obtained in which the white male students exhibited more risk taking than did the black male students, and the black female students exhibited more risk taking than did the white female students. © 1972, The Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.