Facing discomfort: Avoided negative affect shapes the acknowledgment of systemic racism.

Abstract

Why can some Americans acknowledge the deeply rooted racism in the United States while others cannot? Past research suggests that the more people want to avoid feeling negative ("avoided negative affect; ANA"), the less likely they focus on and even perceive someone's suffering. Because acknowledging racism is one specific instance of noticing and acknowledging that people are suffering, the present research investigates whether ANA might also affect the degree to which people acknowledge racism. We predicted that the more people want to avoid feeling negative, the less they will acknowledge systemic racism and the more they will deny negative aspects of their country's history and current policies, that is, the more blindly patriotic they will be. In Study 1, 104 undergraduates reported their ANA and patriotism and rated how much racism they perceived in certain situations. As predicted, the more participants wanted to avoid feeling negative, the less they acknowledged systemic racism. These findings held even after controlling for political ideology, ethnicity, moral foundations, and how people actually feel. However, ANA did not predict blind patriotism. In Study 2, we randomly assigned 116 participants to either an increase ANA, decrease ANA, or control condition. As predicted, participants in the increase ANA condition acknowledged systemic racism less than those in the decrease ANA and control conditions. Wanting to avoid feeling negative might be one barrier to dismantling racial inequalities. Given the high degree of ANA in the United States, we discuss the implications of this work. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).