Racial Attitudes Research Articles

Psychological Flexibility and Compassion Training for Equality in Organizations: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Diversity and Inclusion Intervention

Abstract Objectives Discrimination and prejudice are prevalent in workplaces worldwide, but there are few empirically validated interventions for combating racial bias in organizational settings. This study aims to evaluate an intervention consisting of experiential exercises derived from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). The objective is to address psychological processes influential in promoting inclusive and equal workplaces in relation to race/ethnicity. Method A sample of 123 employees was randomized to an intervention or a comparison condition. The intervention involved exercises designed to increase compassion and empathic perspective-taking, decrease psychological inflexibility related to prejudiced thoughts and racial attitudes, and enhance participants’ commitment to organizational values. Participants in the intervention group were compared to those participating in traditional diversity and inclusion lectures, which served as the comparison condition. Results The study found that participants in the flexibility and compassion condition showed a significant increase in self-reported compassion. The results also showed a significant decrease in the participants’ inflexibility in relation to prejudiced and stigmatizing thoughts. However, no significant differences between the conditions were found regarding the endorsement of racist attitudes or empathic perspective-taking. Conclusions This study adds to the important but limited literature on effective diversity training in organizations. It suggests that methods derived from ACT and CFT may improve workplace diversity and inclusion interventions by increasing compassion and reducing the impact of prejudiced and stigmatizing thoughts on behavior. Preregistration The study was not preregistered.

A Democratic Dilemma: Racial Attitudes, Authoritarianism, and Whites’ Evaluation of Minority Legislators

The United States prides itself on its immigrant heritage and diversity, yet historically, minority advancements have faced opposition and violence. Little scholarship exists on how whites evaluate minority representation when represented by a minority in a legislative chamber. Prior research suggests that diversity may trigger negative racial and authoritarian attitudes among whites. Given recent political events in the United States and increases in the number of racial minorities running for and winning political office, we investigate white responses to minority representation in the United States Congress. Using the 2022 CES data, we examine how racial and authoritarian attitudes predict whites’ evaluations of Minority House Members. We expand beyond the Black and white binary to include whites’ evaluations of Hispanic legislators and broaden the study of racial attitudes beyond the Racial Resentment index. Our findings demonstrate that whites’ evaluations of minority legislators are linked to racial attitudes and endorsements of policy-based authoritarianism, varying by the representative’s race. White respondents who are in districts that are not represented by a Black or Hispanic legislator exemplify higher levels of racial resentment, disagree that whites have advantages, and agree that racial problems are rare. They also support more authoritarian policies than in districts represented by a Black Representative. White respondents’ approval of minority legislators relies on authoritarian policies and racial attitudes when the member of Congress is Black or Hispanic. In these districts, white respondents who disapprove of their Congressmember have more racial resentment, disagree that whites have advantages, and support more authoritarian policies than white respondents who approve of their Congressmember. This research provides insights into the complexities of minority political representation and its connection to policy-based authoritarianism, as well as its implications for American democracy.

Parents' color-conscious racial socialization and adolescents' racial attitudes: the moderating role of parental psychological control

IntroductionThe present two-wave longitudinal study examined the relation between White U.S. parents' color-conscious racial socialization for African Americans and adolescents' racial attitudes, and explored how parental psychological control might moderate this relation.MethodParticipants included 412 White U.S. adolescents (42% girls; Mage = 15.63 years, SD = 1.24) and their primary caregivers (52% mothers). They completed online questionnaires, with parents reporting on their color-conscious racial socialization at Time 1, and adolescents providing measures of their perception of parents' psychological control at Time 1, color-blind attitudes, and racial prejudice at both time points, ~16 months apart.ResultsOur findings revealed that parents' color-conscious racial socialization for African Americans was negatively associated with adolescents' negative racial attitudes. Additionally, parental psychological control moderated this relation: the negative association was evident only when parents exhibited low or average levels of psychological control.DiscussionThis study highlights the crucial role parents play in shaping their adolescents' racial attitudes and underscores the necessity of an autonomy-supportive environment to enhance the success of parents' color-conscious socialization practices. Understanding these dynamics is essential for developing effective interventions to reduce racial biases and foster inclusive attitudes among adolescents.

Shifts in Racial Inequalities and White Backlash in the 21st Century U.S.

Progress toward racial equality over the course of U.S. history has not been linear, and reductions in racial inequalities have historically been met with racist backlash. In the current research, we examine whether shifts in racial inequalities in key structural areas in recent decades can be used to predict implicit and explicit racial attitudes among White U.S. residents (N = 222,203). Consistent with the hypothesis that increasing racial equality is threatening, the majority of the statistically significant effects we observed indicated increased pro-White attitudes among White residents of states where racial inequalities decreased over time. State-level reductions in racial inequalities related to government assistance and employment-which have both been highly politicized-were predictive of greater pro-White attitudes among White U.S. residents. Overall, the current findings provide suggestive evidence that reductions in state-level racial inequalities may threaten the status quo, heightening pro-White attitudes among White U.S. residents.

“The Outlook for Pugilism is Black”: Representations of Prize fighter Jack Johnson in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

When challenger Jack Johnson took to the ring against heavyweight champion Tommy Burns, newspapers across the US quickly cast the bout as a battle between the races. Johnson, an African American, won the battle decisively and began his reign atop the world of prize fighting. This examination of content in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch seeks to inform newspaper coverage of Johnson during his time as the heavyweight champion, and considers the racial attitudes of Joseph Pulitzer and those of his son, Joseph Pulitzer II. The study finds that while the Post-Dispatch acknowledged Johnson as champion and occasionally published dignified photos of the boxer, content became contemptuous after his 1910 victory over former champion James Jeffries. Although the boxers appeared more likely than the newspaper to use racial epithets, the Post-Dispatch published multiple derogatory and racist cartoons of Johnson. Despite the lofty journalistic principles Pulitzer espoused and the perceived historical accuracy of those ideals—a 2016 editorial in the Post-Dispatch stated that Pulitzer “championed racial justice and women’s rights decades before those ideas were popularly held”—history demonstrates a newspaper unconcerned with the sensibilities of African Americans while Johnson reigned as heavyweight champ.

Healthcare providers’ psychological investment in clinical recommendations: Investigating the role of implicit racial attitudes

Racial disparities in clinical recommendations can result in racial disparities in health. While healthcare providers' implicit racial attitudes (affective component of bias) are theorized to be one major factor contributing to racial disparities in clinical recommendations, empirical evidence to support the link is lacking. This study aimed to bridge this gap by moving beyond the standard approach of operationalizing the quality of clinical recommendations as a guideline-consistent vs. -inconsistent dichotomy. The present secondary study examined the role of provider implicit racial attitudes in the quality of clinical recommendations, operationalized as behaviors reflecting providers’ psychological investment in patient care (i.e., number of words used to describe clinical recommendations, and number of treatment options recommended). Two-hundred-and-ten White medical trainees reviewed a clinical vignette of either a White or Black male patient and provided clinical recommendations. Their implicit racial attitudes were evaluated using the Implicit Association Test. Participants with more biased implicit racial attitudes (i.e., stronger implicit preference for White vs. Black individuals) used fewer words to describe their clinical recommendations and provided fewer clinical recommendations for the Black (vs. White) patient, while there were no significant differences between Black and White patients among participants with less biased implicit racial attitudes. These results illustrate the insidious impact of implicit racial attitudes in healthcare provision and underscore the need for researchers to consider the complex, nuanced ways in which provider implicit racial attitudes might manifest in clinical decision-making.

Racial attitudes and perceptions of police misconduct: The case for racial empathy

Racial attitudes and perceptions of police misconduct: The case for racial empathy

Representation of Racism and Anti-blackness in African-American Proverbs

Proverbs have captivated researchers worldwide, since they mirror how cultures portrait folks’ social lives. African American proverbs related to racism and anti-blackness, among them, are made use of to expose how the culture of the Western world in general and of America in particular view racial attitudes in these sayings. By exploiting four analytical tools of critical stylistics viewed in Jeffries’ model, thirty proverbs will be examined (exemplified by five proverbs) regarding their stylistic features and racial-related ideologies. This paper schemes into how Indians are stereotyped in these proverbs. Through exploiting the selected critical stylistic tools, it concludes that the proverbs examined either implicitly or explicitly express how black people are treated racially and inhumanely in everyday settings and in proverbs as well.

The Relationship Between Racial Attitudes and Disordered Eating Behaviors in Black Men and Black Women.

Black individuals remain underrepresented in disordered eating research, despite evidence that both Black men and women present with disordered eating behaviors. Culturally-informed theoretical frameworks suggest that these behaviors may be linked to race-related sociocultural experiences, such as aspects of racial identity. While studies have focused on racial identity commitment, the association between attitudes toward one's racial identity and disordered eating remains underexplored. The present study examines whether positive attitudes toward one's Blackness and Black culture are associated with disordered eating. In a cross-sectional online sample of Black men and women (N = 458), we measured self-reported attitudes toward Blackness (i.e., centrality and private regard) and disordered eating behaviors (i.e., purging, binge eating, excessive exercise, and drive for thinness). In pre-registered linear regression models, private regard was negatively associated with purging and binge eating. Across all models, centrality was not associated with disordered eating. On average, Black women reported greater drive for thinness whereas Black men reported higher excessive exercise scores. This is the first study to demonstrate associations between racial attitudes and disordered eating among Black men and women. Our findings affirm unique correlates of disordered eating among Black people and suggest that positive attitudes toward one's Blackness and Black culture may be a protective factor against the development of disordered eating.

Internalized Racism? A Study of Christian Nationalism and Perceptions of Asian Hate and White Privilege Among Asians and Asian Americans

Prior studies have shown that Christian nationalism, an ideology combining Christian identity with American identity, is a powerful predictor of public attitudes toward racism. However, less is known about how Christian nationalism might affect Asians and Asian Americans’ racial attitudes, who have increasingly been the targets of anti-Asian hate crimes since the COVID-19 pandemic. This study surveyed 356 Asian and Asian American adults residing in the US. Among them, a stronger belief in Christian nationalism was associated with the perception that anti-Asian racism had stayed about the same or decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Surprisingly, this Christian nationalism effect on perceptions of anti-Asian racism during the pandemic was more salient among Asians and Asian Americans, who perceived a greater importance of Asian solidarity. Finally, Asians and Asian Americans who held a stronger belief in Christian nationalism also tended to deny the existence of White privilege.

The Aggrieved Entitlement Scale: A New Measure for an Old Problem.

Aggrieved entitlement (AE) refers to the defensiveness and hostility majority-group members feel toward the outgroup in response to a perceived threat of lost privileges. Over the last couple of years, AE has garnered a great deal of attention in the media as well as in the empirical literature because of its connection with extremism and violence against minority groups. Yet, to date, research quantifying and measuring the construct of AE is scant. In this paper, we aim to bridge this gap. Across two studies (N1 = 813; N2 = 1,100) we explore the factor structure of the Aggrieved Entitlement Scale (AES) and examine its concurrent and divergent validity with related demographic, attitudinal, and personality factors. We found that the AES was positively correlated with racist attitudes, fear-based xenophobia, authoritarianism, sexism, transphobia, and sexual entitlement. We further found that it was negatively correlated with feminist attitudes, honesty-humility, and compassionate love. In both samples, scores were higher among men (vs. women) and heterosexual (vs. sexual minority) individuals. Finally, in contrast to our expectations, racial and ethnic minority participants scored higher in AE than White participants. Results from this work offer initial support for the use of the AES and call for more research into the topic.

Racial Stereotypes, Racial Threat, and Support for Felon Disenfranchisement Among White Americans

Applying racial stereotypes and the racial threat framework to felon disenfranchisement support, this study argues white Americans who think Black Americans are more violent will be more supportive of felon disenfranchisement, and that this effect will be largest for white Republicans and white Americans who put greater importance in their racial identity. Analyses of the 2020 American National Election Study finds white Americans who think Black (white) Americans are more violent are more (less) supportive of felon disenfranchisement, with suggestive evidence these effects are more pronounced for white Republicans and white Americans holding greater racial importance. At the same time, the effects of violence stereotypes are consistently substantively small, amounting to less than one half of one level change in disenfranchisement support on a seven-point scale. These effect sizes are on par with partisanship, slightly smaller than other racial attitudes and crime spending preferences, and far outpaced by ideology. Overall, these results suggest racial stereotypes may factor into support for felon disenfranchisement, but these stereotypes are not a driving factor of such support.

Racism in psychiatry and the case of presentism

Acknowledging the impact of imperialist and colonialist attitudes on the development of psychiatry allows for the recovery of the work of practitioners whose contribution may have been overlooked, as well as recognising racist attitudes in predominant thinking. These combined approaches aid in the construction of a more complete critical history.

Camouflaged prejudice and the affirmation of skin colour differences: assessment of racism among Brazilian undergraduate dental students.

The negative oral health outcomes of disadvantaged racial groups have been well-documented, as racial disparity in oral health persists over time and in different locations1. However, it is important to note that skin colour has no biological meaning, and the observed differences can be physiological expressions of social injustice such as racism. Aim: The aim of this study was to analyse the association between levels of modern racism (camouflaged prejudice and affirmation of differences) and sociodemographic characteristics of Brazilian dental students. Material and Method: An epidemiological cross-sectional online survey was conducted on 441 Brazilian undergraduate dental students using Google Forms. Participants were recruited via emails and social media, using the snowball technique. The Checklist for Reporting of Survey Studies (CROSS) was followed. The survey used sociodemographic variables, and the Brazilian version of the Modern Racism Scale (B-MRS), which measures the cognitive component of subtle racial attitudes. The scale assesses the central notion of disguised prejudice and has two domains: 'denial of prejudice' and 'affirmation of differences'. Participants' self-declared skin colour was categorized as "white" and "non-white" (black, brown, indigenous, yellow). Univariate analysis and Poisson regression with robust variance were applied. Results: Participants' mean age was 24.1 years (±5.4). Most participants were self-declared as white (54%) and 46% as non-white skin colour. Higher B-MRS overall-scores were observed in male (p=0.008) and non-white (p=0.002) students. B-MRS scores for the domain 'affirmation of differences' (representation of those who believe that whites and non-whites are truly different) were higher among male dental students (PR=1.138; CI 95%: 1.019-1.271) and those from low-income families (PR=1.306; CI 95%: 1.089-1.565). Scores for the domain 'denial of prejudice' (the idea that non-whites use their race to receive legal benefits) were higher among male dental students (PR=1.328; CI 95%: 1.129-1.562). Conclusions: In general, male non-white students had higher modern racism indicators. Male students from low-income families believed that whites and non-whites are truly different, accounting for the affirmation of difference in this sample.

Chinese mothers' profiles of color-conscious socialization and social dominance orientation: Relations to children's racial attitudes.

This study concerns Chinese mothers' color-conscious socialization and social dominance orientation and how these relate to children's racial attitudes. Data were collected from a sample of 155 Chinese children (71 girls) aged 7-11 years and their mothers, from urban regions across China (Shanghai, Jinan, and cities in Jiangsu Province), including observations of mothers' color-conscious practices, self-reported social dominance orientation, and children's attitudes toward light-skinned Chinese, tan-skinned Chinese, and White groups. All children were born in urban areas and from middle-income families. Variable- and person-centered analyses suggested three areas of color-conscious practices, racial appearance, cultural background, and grouping, and revealed heterogeneity in associations between color consciousness and social dominance orientation. Mothers' acknowledgment of shared culture was associated with children's positive attitudes toward their racial ingroup with darker skin tone. This study emphasizes the importance of a nuanced and contextualized understanding of color-conscious socialization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Supplemental Material for Chinese Mothers’ Profiles of Color-Conscious Socialization and Social Dominance Orientation: Relations to Children’s Racial Attitudes

Supplemental Material for Chinese Mothers’ Profiles of Color-Conscious Socialization and Social Dominance Orientation: Relations to Children’s Racial Attitudes

Reframing approaches to workplace violence towards Pacific homecare workers in New Zealand and Australia

In Australia and New Zealand there is an emerging focus on the problems of violence and harassment for the large, feminised workforces of care and support workers in homecare settings. However, much of this research does not consider the power dynamics of workplaces and socio-political influences that impact how workers are supported when facing WPV. This is of particular concern in relation to the growing proportion of Pacific workers in Australia and New Zealand, many of whom have temporary migrant status. Using a narrative review method, we find that extant research largely fails to address the experiences of Pacific homecare workers, and that this, and the lack of attention to Pacific workers in practice, is informed by racist norms and attitudes based on historic and current labour market and migration policies. Drawing on socio-ecological models of workplace violence (WPV), we propose a research and policy analytical framework of WPV that centres Pacific voices and culture to better mitigate and prevent Pacific homecare workers’ experiences of WPV.

Education and Training: Professional

In the United States, there is an acute shortage of health service psychologists of color. In this paper, we examined this shortage in the context of the American Psychological Association’s apology to people of color for psychology’s role in perpetuating racism and human hierarchy. Drawing from literature on the sociohistorical context of race in America, we argue that the treatment meted out to Native Americans (e.g., exploitation and eviction from their homelands), Blacks (e.g., slavery), and other ethnic-racial groups resulted in the development of racist attitudes about human hierarchy and White superiority, and these initial behaviors and attitudes began a vicious cycle of discriminatory behaviors, racist attitudes, and societal inequities that are still affecting society in the present day. We also contend that the shortage of professional psychologists—both health service and applied—cannot be solved at the graduate school level where these individuals are trained. The solution has to start with increasing the numbers of students of color who succeed in elementary and secondary schooling, ultimately matriculating into college and graduate school. Thus, the solution requires interventions aimed at the entire educational trajectory. We conclude with recommendations for actions and advocacy from psychological associations such as the American Psychological Association as well as individual psychologists.

The Racialized American Dream: Predictors for the 21st Century

ABSTRACT The American Dream has long been understood as a “shorthand summary of a nation’s collective aspirations” (Hauhart 2015:65). What determines optimism about the Dream? This paper uses nationally representative data collected at a critical historical juncture to advance research which has connected the American Dream to America’s racial history. We find faith in the American Dream was racialized into the 21st-Century, both in the sense that our data show different levels of optimism toward the Dream by race and in that predictors of belief vary by racialized experiences and ideologies. We find that most Americans continued to believe in the American Dream, but contrary to prominent 20th-Century understandings, whites became less optimistic than persons of color, and that this remaining white belief was complex, with racial attitudes being central. Predictors of belief in the Dream were different by race in ways that may vitally reflect how collective aspirations are conceived from within unfolding American racial civic histories and 21st-Century racial hierarchies, patterns we discuss as privileged multiculturalism (whites), meritocratic incorporation (Hispanics), and positive social inclusion (Blacks). Ultimately, these findings suggest that the socio-cultural significance of the American Dream is not just tied to material position but intertwined with racialized cultural expectations, outlooks, and status concerns.

Enemy of My Enemy? An Examination of Potential Religious Group Threat Effects on Racial Attitudes

ABSTRACT Group threat theories postulate that when majority group members feel threatened by minority racial groups, they develop prejudice. However, it is possible that feeling threatened by those perceived as outgroups of racial minorities can lead to support for racial minorities. The threat offered by conservative Christians to progressives can lead those progressives to become more supportive of racial minorities, perceiving those minorities as allies. Data from the 2021 Baylor Religion Survey examined the predictive power of feeling threatened by Republicans, African Americans, conservative Christians, Muslims, atheists, and Buddhists on progressive racial attitudes. After basic social and demographic controls, feeling threatened by conservative Christians and political conservatives was associated with higher support for progressive racialized attitudes, while feeling threatened by Muslims and blacks was associated with lower support for progressive racial attitudes. This research extends theories about group threat theory by focusing on the symbolic threat tied to our current culture war.