Internal motivation to respond without prejudice fosters respectful responses in interracial interactions.

Abstract

As society becomes increasingly racially diverse, fostering positive interracial interactions is more important than ever. Unfortunately, previous work suggests that there are barriers to positive interracial interactions including White people's concerns about being liked and being seen as nonprejudiced and Black people's concerns about being respected and being seen as competent (Bergsieker, Shelton, & Richeson, 2010). The current work tested the hypothesis that these seemingly divergent impression management concerns do not always lead White people to have an approach to interracial interactions that is "incompatible" with Black interaction partner's concerns about being respected. We argue that White people who are internally motivated to respond without prejudice (Plant & Devine, 1998) are aware that Black interaction partners want to be respected, are concerned about showing this respect, and demonstrate this respect by focusing on getting to know and engaging with Black interaction partners during interracial interactions. On the other hand, White people who are externally motivated to respond without prejudice are focused on their own concerns about appearing prejudiced and focus on themselves and their own experience rather the needs of Black interaction partners. The results of six studies supported our predictions. Overall, the current work provides an important link between research on impression management concerns and motivations to respond without prejudice and suggests that the key to cultivating positive interracial interactions may be to increase White people's internal motivation and knowledge that Black people want to be respected. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).