| Abstract: | Seventy-two white undergraduates of both sexes taught a lesson “What is psychology?” to a 10-year-old male confederate. Four confederates, two white and two black, alternated in the three conditions of induced expectancy: Subjects were told the child was bright, dull, or were given no information. Unknown to subjects, their nonverbal behavior during the lesson was videotape recorded. Results indicated that induced expectancy affected subject nonverbal behavior only when the confederate was white. Subjects smiled more, looked more, and nodded more at the white “bright” confederates than the white control or “dull” confederates. However, expectancy had no effect, positive or negative, when the confederate was black. In addition, white confederates received more positive nonverbal behavior overall than did black confederates. |
