Motives matter: White instructors' external race-based motives undermine trust and belonging for Black college students.

Trust is fundamental to successful educational relationships. Yet, numerous barriers inhibit the development of trust between students of color (SOC) and White instructors. The current research examined a metacognitive obstacle to the development of cross-race classroom trust: Primarily External Race Motives (PERM). PERM was defined as the experience that instructors were more concerned with avoiding the appearance of prejudice than having self-directed egalitarian motives. Using within-subjects vignettes ( Whether with hypothetical, past, or present White educators, feeling that instructors have primarily external race-based motives undermined instructor trust and classroom belonging. In all studies, the relationship between PERM and classroom belonging was mediated by instructor (mis)trust. The results provide evidence that motives viewed to be primarily external undermine instructional relationships for SOC. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).