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The Positive Feedback Bias as a Response to Out‐Group Unfriendliness 1
Author(s) -
Harber Kent D.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2004.tb01977.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology , positive feedback , negative feedback , impression management , white (mutation) , impression formation , feedback regulation , social perception , perception , biochemistry , chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , voltage , neuroscience , electrical engineering , gene , engineering , mathematics education
This study tests whether Whites provide especially positive feedback to minorities who respond to feedback in an unfriendly manner. White female undergraduates (N = 66) gave verbal feedback to either a Black or a White confederate who posed as the author of a poorly written essay. Confederates responded to participants’ feedback in either a friendly or unfriendly manner. As predicted, participants who gave feedback to an unfriendly Black confederate supplied a selectively higher ratio of positive to negative comments and a selectively higher proportion of positive comments. Participants paired with an unfriendly Black confederate also provided the most positive post‐interaction ratings, despite minimal impression‐management pressures. Collectively, these findings indicate that Whites’ self‐image motives underlie the positive feedback bias.