Changing racial beliefs by providing consensus information

In two experiments, the authors found that providing feedback to European A merican participants that others held different beliefs about African Ameri cans than they originally estimated significantly changed the Beliefs that they held about that group. The observed changes were stronger for people w ho were exposed to information about the opinions of ingroup rather than ou tgroup members and persisted whom measured in an unrelated experimental ses sion held 1 week later The authors also found in a third experiment that pr oviding information that others agreed with the individual's own racial ste reotypes bolstered them such that they were more resistant to subsequent ch ange attempts. Taken together the results suggest that learning about the r acial Beliefs of others has the potential to either produce or inhibit ster eotype change.