The Latino Princetonian: Intergroup and Intragroup Interactions, Ethnic Prototypicality, and Sense of Belonging

Abstract

In this thesis, I conducted a randomized controlled experiment in which Latinos had the same interaction with either Latino interaction partners or White interaction partners and measured participants’ feelings towards the interaction, feelings towards the group, and feelings of belonging, as they were related to the ethnicity of the interaction partner and their self-perceived ethnic prototypicality. I found that the manipulation of the ethnicity of the interaction group had a significant effect on the positive feelings about the interaction for Latinos interacting with Latinos. I also found that increased self-perceived ethnic prototypicality was associated with more positive feelings towards the interaction, towards the interaction group, and a trend towards higher feelings of belonging within the Latino group but not within the White group. Unrelated to the manipulation, I found that Latinos’ higher feelings of self-perceived ethnic prototypicality were associated with higher feelings of belonging in the Latino community at large, but no significant relationship was found between higher self-perceived ethnic prototypicality and higher or lower feelings of belonging within the White community at large. This research demonstrates that Latinos’ positive feelings of belonging within a Latino group are directly related to their perceptions of themselves as prototypical Latinos, while Latinos at different positions on the peripheral to prototypical spectrum can find ways to develop or not develop feelings of belonging among White groups.