Important theoretical work on interracial interactions reveals anxiety to
be a prominent barrier to positive interactions and interracial relations.
Grounded in this theoretical perspective, we developed an intervention
designed to promote positive interracial interactions and minimize anxiety
at an undergraduate institution. Undergraduate participants completed an
initial survey and were exposed to one of the two intervention messages or
no-message control. Participants in the intervention groups were asked to
intentionally meet “someone new” of a different race in the upcoming week.
A week later, we followed up with all participants to ascertain who they
met and how the encounters (if any) went. Relative to the control, those in
the intervention conditions met more new people, felt less anxiety when
meeting someone new of a different race, and this lower level of anxiety in
their actual encounters during the week was correlated with reporting more
interest in and likelihood of interacting with others from a different race
in imagined scenarios. This work undergirds the importance of understanding
the role of anxiety in promoting positive interracial interactions.