Growth mindsets of people can promote interracial contact intentions among White Americans via positive expectations and reduced anxiety

Abstract

We explored whether believing that people have the capacity to adapt and grow (i.e., growth mindset) might help to shape White Americans’ intentions to engage in interracial contact. Across four studies (N = 621), growth mindsets of people were positively associated with intentions to engage in positive interracial contact. In Studies 2–4, in an attempt to explore causation, we successfully manipulated mindsets. Although these manipulations did not robustly predict interracial contact intentions, they did indirectly predict contact intentions through self-reported growth mindsets. In Studies 3–4, the growth mindset experimental condition also indirectly and serially predicted more positive interracial contact intentions through positive expectations and lower levels of intergroup anxiety. This work makes both theoretical and practical advances in the effort to encourage White Americans to engage in positive interracial contact.