RACIAL ATTITUDES AND THE ACTION OF NEGRO- AND WHITE-BACKGROUND FIGURES AS FACTORS IN PETITION-SIGNING.

This paper reports a laboratory study in which Ss observed another student either sign or refuse to sign a petition before being requested to sign the petition themselves. For half of the Ss, the other student (an assistant) was Negro, and for the other half, this individual was white. Both assistants signed or refused to sign the petition according to a prearranged sequence. Attitudes toward Negroes did not appear to play a strong role in this situation. In general, the results indicate that situational factors outweighed personal factors in determining S's reaction to the petition employed in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]