Shifts in justice beliefs induced by Hurricane Katrina: The impact of claims of racism

Abstract

This study utilized the context of Hurricane Katrina to examine changes in justice beliefs. We suggest that racism claims being embedded within an emotionally involving context and covered by the mainstream media facilitated openness to the idea that the American social system is not entirely just. We hypothesized that exposure to images of the disaster and racism explanations would lead Whites who initially perceived the American social system as just to shift their beliefs. Furthermore, lower justice beliefs after exposure to disaster images would be associated with greater perceptions of similarity with victims and less preference for the racial ingroup. Results were consistent with these hypotheses. Thus, under some circumstances, disconfirming evidence can produce belief change.