Attributions to discrimination in multiracial contexts: Isolating the effect of target group membership.

Abstract

Historically, psychological models of how people make judgments of discrimination have relied on a binary conceptualization of intergroup relations, making it unclear how people make judgments of discrimination in diverse, multigroup contexts. We propose that groups can vary in the extent to which they fit the prototype for targets of discrimination and that this variation influences judgments of discrimination in ambiguous circumstances. The present research examined attributions to discrimination when job applicants are rejected for a white-collar position. People consistently made more attributions to discrimination (ATDs) when managers rejected Black American as compared to Asian American job applicants, and when managers rejected Asian American as compared to White American job applicants. People also made more ATDs for rejected Black American as compared to Latino American applicants, but ATDs were similar for Latino and Asian American applicants. Overall, similar patterns were observed in majority White American samples and a Black/African American sample; only an Asian American sample did not make more ATDs for rejected Black than Asian American applicants. Six experiments (N = 2,321) found strong support for the relative fit hypothesis and suggest that, in a white-collar employment context, White Americans are a distant fit to the prototype for targets of discrimination, Asian and Latino Americans are an intermediate fit, and Black Americans are a close fit. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).