Safe here, but unsafe there? Institutional signals of identity safety also signal prejudice in the broader environment

Abstract

Institutional efforts to create safe environments can function as signals to identity safety and reduce expectations of identity threat within the institution. Prior research on institutional identity safety signals, however, has yet to consider an important question: Do people use institutional identity safety signals to inform their expectations of identity threat in their broader social environments? Because people's day-to-day lives are often outside of signaling institutions, it is important to understand whether institutional identity safety signals also influence expectations of identity threat outside of the signaled space. Here, we explore this question by testing how the presence of safe spaces—designated areas where people can feel comfortable in their social identities and safe from prejudice—affect people's expectations of threat in their broader environments. Across four vignette-based studies using US participants sampled from Amazon's Mechanical Turk and an undergraduate subject pool, participants who read about someone observing a safe space sign (compared to signs unrelated to identity safety) reported increased prejudice expectations in their broader environments. These prejudice expectations mediated increased attributions of prejudice (Study 1); motivations to combat prejudice (Study 2); and support for movements and policies addressing diversity, equity, and inclusion (Study 3). These effects were not moderated by group membership. Results suggested that safe spaces increased prejudice expectations because they are perceived as a response to a problem in the broader environment. Together, the present research contributes to existing literature by testing the effects of a new signal (i.e., safe spaces), examining how localized identity safety signals transfer to the broader environment, and highlighting novel outcomes following from prejudice expectations.