Racially Based Trust Expectancies of Native American and Caucasian Children

Native American and Caucasian children attending fourth or fifth grade in same-race or mixed-race Canadian schools judged themselves and the other group with respect to trust. As hypothesized, the children displayed same-race trust expectancies: Native American children expected a Caucasian child to be less likely to keep promises, keep secrets, and tell the truth than a Native American child. The Caucasian children displayed the opposite pattern of expectancies. The same-race pattern of trust was less evident in mixed-race schools than in same-race schools but, consistent with the behavioral disconfirmation hypothesis, only for expectancies of promise keeping.