Interracial Roommates Can Reduce Prejudice?

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Russell H. Fazio, an Ohio State psychology professor who has studied interracial roommates there and at Indiana University, discovered an intriguing academic effect. In a study analyzing data on thousands of Ohio State freshmen who lived in dorms, he found that black freshmen who came to college with high standardized test scores earned better grades if they had a white roommate — even if the roommate’s test scores were low. The roommate’s race had no effect on the grades of white students or low-scoring black students. Perhaps, the study speculated, having a white roommate helps academically prepared black students adjust to a predominantly white university.

That same study found that randomly assigned interracial roommates at Ohio State broke up before the end of the quarter about twice as often as same-race roommates.

Because interracial roommate relationships are often problematic, Dr. Fazio said, many students would like to move out, but university housing policies may make it hard to leave.

“At Indiana University, where housing was not so tight, more interracial roommates split up,” he said. “Here at Ohio State, where there was a housing crunch, they were told to work it out. The most interesting thing we found was that if the relationship managed to continue for just 10 weeks, we could see an improvement in racial attitudes.”
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TravG73
  • added July 08, 2009

13 comments // Interracial Roommates Can Reduce Prejudice?

  •  

    Yes it always can, hanging out with people who are different is one of the best ways you can stop prejudice...

    People settling their differences, and realizing that we are the same, is how the world will settle in peace..

    metalcookiesxy70
  •  

    It's natural that once people actually interact with people who are in the real life instead of basing their views on the stereotypes the see in the media they realize that everybody is pretty much the same. You see it with small children especially children of all races will get along and just play with each other without regard to race. It's only when they get bad information from the media and their parents views on stupids stereotypes do they begin to seperate. Things into black, white, asian, hispanic. Up until that point the only thing kids care about is how much fun they are having.

    JulyJones
  •  

    If the citizens of the world would just open their eyes a little wider and take the time to see one another for who they actually are, there would be no racial stereotypes. It has to be understood that not one person can be completely defined by a simple racial connotation, all humans are complex and layered beings.

    turquoisePatrice
  •  

    I think that it is a great idea because I believe many ethnic groups believe that all white people are racists who always stereotype anyone different from themselves. Its hard to sit around thinking that some geeky white roomate is "the man" when they are always being nice to you and digging your music and making you laugh.

    thecoyote23
  •  

    Interracial roomates. Yes maybe. Interracial orgys take the cake though!

    ArmyJuggalo
  •  

    Less racism is nice.

    CarlosIsDown
  •  

    This is not the first study to show spending time in a diverse environment decreases racism. Even being shown pictures of positive role models can decrease racist judments; http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/01/racetraining.html

    fernweher
  •  

    not everyone as is racist as a republican (pardon my biasedness)
    but most people would rather have a friend of any sort then hate someone they havent got the time to know or understand.( unlike a republican) << (insert smiley face)

    idealist
  •  

    interracial roomates! seems like fun...know im going to have to make sure my 1st ever roomates are not racially similar as i

    barbie_chola89
  •  

    Come to think of it, I've had interracial roommates since I moved out of my parent's house.

    DeliaTheArtist
  •  

    I think this study generalizes way too much. Each person has unique experiences in their life that will make them view the world one way or another. I grew up as a white minority in a black neighborhood. That gave me a certain set of eyes on the world that most whites did not have. I had roommates that were black and roommates that were white or something else. And it made no difference because I got along with some of them better than other regardless. In addition to the study being dumb the NYT article is dumb because they interview an black student from Ghana. Don't cultural differences come into play here? The rest of the university students the writer interviewed were residence hall assistants who were white. Were there no typical white student or typical American born black students willing to be interviewed? To me this kind of story just keeps trying to say, oh look how different we are! Well let's embrace the differences but also realize that any two people jammed in a 12 by 12 room for four straight months are going to stop smiling at each other eventually. OK, down off my soapbox...

    greekmaria
  •  

    I think that this study is over generalizing. I'm black and I've had shitty white roommates and shitty black roommates, I think that as an African American if you chose to attend a more diverse university then you're more open to other races in general. Besides that at the end of the day we're both American like the lady before me said its more of a cultural thing, I would never have an issue living with a white person but for my school we could chose whether or not we wanted an international roommate and I opted out. I just felt like it would be too much of a difference for my freshman year of school.

    Meaghan1126
  •  

    Remember its not just race. Spending time with people from any stereotypical group tends to soften the -ist -ness

    Commentor

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