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The goal of the present research was to understand the fundamental processes by which racial attitudes exert their influence and serve to simplify (or complicate) daily life, and in turn how such interracial experiences affect racial attitudes. Natural field experiments were conducted in the college dormitories and took advantage of the fact that students are randomly assigned to their roommates if they do not specifically request a roommate. The first experiment was intended to examine whether the racial attitudes of a White student randomly assigned to an African-American roommate grew more positive as a consequence of the relationship. Participants were White freshmen who had been randomly assigned to either a White or African-American roommate. Students participated in two sessions at the beginning and end of their first quarter on campus. During these sessions, participants completed questionnaires about roommate satisfaction and involvement. Participants also completed an implicit measure of racial attitudes. Participants in interracial rooms reported less satisfaction and involvement with their roommates. However, racial attitudes and intergroup anxiety showed differential change over time, with students in the interracial rooms becoming more positive and less anxious toward African-Americans. Thus, the results suggest that interracial roommate relationships, although generally less satisfying and less involving, do produce benefits. Based on the indication that interracial roommate situations may be more stressful than same race situations, the second study addressed the effect of intergroup contact on stress and health. It also addressed the functional value of having an attitude that matches the situation. The procedure was similar to the first experiment with the addition of several stress and health measures. Overall, there were no differences in stress and health between participants in interracial and same-race rooms. However, within interracial rooms, racial attitudes did affect well-being, at least among those who began the academic year feeling relatively distressed. Participants who possessed more positive racial attitudes reported improved well-being later in the school year, whereas health concerns were accentuated for those with more negative racial attitudes. The results provide evidence for the functional value of attitudes and having an attitude that is appropriate for a specific situation.