How racial diversity helps students to think
by Peter Monaghan

August 4, 2004
 

When white college students are placed in discussion groups with a black student -- or with students holding opinions in the minority -- they display higher levels of complex thought, and that pattern shows that racial and other forms of diversity have positive effects on education and thought, write Anthony Brown, an assistant professor of education at Stanford University, and five colleagues.

At a time of legal challenges to affirmative action, the finding in social and personality psychology has important policy implications, the authors suggest. Previous research, they say, has collected anecdotal evidence that racially diverse educational environments lead to better student retention, better views by students of their intellectual and social status, and greater satisfaction with college attendance.

But their work, the researchers say, is the first controlled, randomized study to show those effects in experiments designed to directly measure cognitive outcomes. Their yardstick for improved thinking was integrative complexity, measured through essays written at the beginning and end of the testing. At the highest level of integrative complexity, "there is recognition of the trade-offs among perspectives and solutions," and earlier studies have shown that it is associated with higher grades in college, the authors write.

In the study, students in groups of three white participants and one black or white collaborator discussed contentious social issues.

The researchers found that conditions of racial diversity increased integrative complexity -- as, to a lesser extent, did the presence of a student whose opinions on the topics under discussion were at odds with those of the other participants.

Although homogeneity of group members may increase solidarity and cohesiveness, it also tends to increase "groupthink," the authors say. By contrast, "minority influence" leads to more-divergent thinking and perspectives, better critical thinking, and willingness and ability to change.
 

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