Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access theses, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this thesis through interlibrary loan.
Theses that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
Access Type
Open Access
Degree Program
Psychology
Degree Type
Master of Science (M.S.)
Year Degree Awarded
2014
Month Degree Awarded
February
Keywords
Intergroup relations, Perceived Norms, Classroom Composition
Abstract
Students’ perceptions of normative support for positive intergroup relations from teachers and school staff have been linked to a number of positive intergroup outcomes (Green, Adams, & Turner, 1988; Jugert, Noack, & Rutland, 2011). Additional studies testing the effects of ethnic proportions in classrooms show evidence for positive and negative intergroup outcomes between ethnic majority and ethnic minority students (e.g., Durkin et al., 2011; Vervoort, Scholte, & Scheepers, 2011). Still, research has yet to test simultaneously the effects of ethnic proportions in a classroom in conjunction with students’ subjective perceptions of normative support for positive intergroup relations. With a sample of Latino and White students from 44 classrooms in two public middle schools the current research tests (1) how two sets of perceived school norms (promoting positive intergroup relations and promoting fairness) predict levels of comfort with outgroup members and greater interest in cross-ethnic friendship, and (2) whether proportions of outgroup members in the classroom moderates the relationships between each set of perceived norms and the outcomes.
First Advisor
Linda R Tropp
Second Advisor
Brian Lickel