Intercultural Effectiveness, Authoritarianism, and Ethnic Prejudice

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which intercultural effectiveness dimensions (cultural empathy, open-mindedness, social initiative, emotional stability, flexibility) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) predicted the ethnic prejudice of 166 Australian respondents toward Indigenous Australians. Intercultural effectiveness was assessed on the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire, and RWA was assessed on the RWA scale, whereas ethnic prejudice was measured on the Modern Racism Scale. The results revealed that intercultural effectiveness (open-mindedness, flexibility, cultural empathy) was inversely related to ethnic prejudice, with open-mindedness being the main predictor. Intercultural effectiveness was also inversely related to RWA, the latter being directly related to ethnic prejudice. The implications of these findings for the potential role of intercultural effectiveness in combating ethnic prejudice are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.