An emerging body of research finds that exposure to the shifting racial demographics of a nation can engender concerns about racial group status among members of the dominant racial group. The ...present work revisits this finding, probing a broader set of group status concerns than has been examined in most past research. Three experiments exposed four samples of White Americans to racial demographic information or race-neutral control information, then assessed their perception that the relative status of racial groups in the nation would change and the extent to which they were alarmed by such a status shift—that is, status threat. Consistent with past work, what we now term perceived status change increased in response to salient racial demographics information, relative to race-neutral control information, irrespective of participants’ political ideology. Departing from past work, however, the perceived threat associated with changing racial demographics was moderated by political ideology. Specifically, politically conservative White participants demonstrated high levels of group status threat in the neutral control condition that either increased (Study 1a, Study 2) or stayed equally high (Study 1b, Study 3) after exposure to information about a racial shift. In contrast, in all studies, politically liberal White participants demonstrated a modest level of group status threat in the control condition that was attenuated upon exposure to a racial shift. Taken together, these results suggest a polarization of responses to the increasing racial diversity of the nation, one that was not observed even just a few years ago.
In this research we examine how normative expressions of prejudice shape university communities. Across four studies, we examine the prevalence of a former university mascot depicting harmful ...stereotypes about Native Americans and how exposure to that mascot influences people's attitudes and behaviors. In Study 1, images of the mascot persist on >10% of university apparel worn by students, in 50% of campus spaces, and in 5% of images searched online. Surveying students on this campus, we find that students with lower (higher) reported explicit prejudice also tended to have lower (higher) belonging at the university (Study 2). In two final experimental studies (N = 683), when compared to stereotype free university advertisements exposure to the stereotypic mascot reduced donations to the university by 5.5%, and in particular, among people low versus high in explicit prejudice (Studies 3 and 4). Overall, these findings suggest that institutional norms play an important role in expressions of prejudice and experiences of belonging.
•A mascot depicting Native American stereotypes is prevalent at one university campus.•Exposure to the stereotypic mascot reduced university donations by 5.5%.•People low in explicit prejudice report lower belonging when exposed to the mascot.
We report the first investigation of whether observers draw information about mindsets from behavior, specifically prejudice confrontation. We tested two questions across 10 studies (N = 3,168). ...First, would people who observe someone confront a biased comment (vs. remain silent) see them as endorsing more growth (vs. fixed) mindsets about prejudice and bias? If so, would the growth mindset perceptions that arise from confrontation (vs. remaining silent) attenuate the backlash that observers exhibit against confronters? We investigated these questions using scenarios (Studies 1, 2a-b, 4, 5a-d), naturalistic confrontations of national, race, and gender stereotypes reported retrospectively (Study 3), and an in-person laboratory experiment of actual confrontations of racial bias (Study 6). Correlational and experimental methods yielded support for our core hypotheses: People spontaneously imbue someone who confronts a biased comment with more growth mindset beliefs about prejudice and bias (Studies 1, 2a-b, 4, 6), regardless of whether participants observe the confrontation (Studies 1, 2a-b, 5a-d) or are being confronted themselves (Studies 2a-4, 6). The growth mindset perceptions arising from these confrontations suppress backlash, assessed by classic interpersonal perceptions (Studies 4-5) and judgments of interpersonal warmth and willingness to interact again in the future (Study 6), both when the confronter was a target of the biased behavior (Studies 1-5), and when they were an ally (Study 6), in both correlational studies (Study 3-4) and when growth mindset (about personality, Study 5; about prejudice, Study 6) was manipulated, confirming causality. We discuss implications for the study of mindsets, confrontation, and intergroup relations.
The United States is becoming increasingly racially diverse, with non-Hispanic White Americans expected to comprise less than 50% of the population by between 2040 and 2050. The prospect of this ...racial demographic shift has been shown to cause feelings of threat among White Americans, as well as negative intergroup outcomes like increased racial bias and decreased support for integration. This work examines racial group status threat among White Americans, with an eye toward mitigating its negative consequences.Chapter 1 presents a theoretical framework for predicting the antecedents of potential consequences of racial group status threat, arguing that the US racial hierarchy is comprised of (at least) five dimensions: group size, socio-cultural centrality, political power, material resources, and moral authority. Events that appear to affect the racial hierarchy along any of these dimensions can cue perceptions of racial group status change (i.e., hierarchy instability). The perception of racial group status change is, in turn, experienced as threatening, at least for some dominant group members. For instance, individual differences and ideologies that prefer hierarchy maintenance are likely to find the prospect of group status change threating. Consistent with classic theoretical work (Blumer, 1958), racial group status threat is expected to lead to hostile intergroup attitudes and behaviors. This dissertation extends prior research on the likely consequences of group status threat among White Americans to consider its implications for democratic principles and practices.Chapter 2 examines how exposure to the prospect of shifting racial demographics affects perceptions of racial group status change and feelings of racial group status threat. Three studies experimentally manipulate exposure to information about a decline in White Americans’ population percentage. When White Americans, regardless of political beliefs, read that the population percentage of people of color is increasing, they believe that the status of White Americans is likely to decrease. However, White conservatives express high levels of threat over their racial group’s status (which is unaffected or slightly heightened by exposure to shifting demographics information), while White liberals express lower levels of racial group status threat, which are further decreased by exposure to a racial demographic shift. The chapter concludes by commenting on when this divergence by political orientation emerged, as well as its consequences for intergroup attitudes in a diversifying U.S.In Chapter 3, three correlational studies assess lay perceptions of and expectations about racial demographic change, as well as its likely impact on the socio-cultural centrality and political power of White Americans. Analyses reveal mixed evidence that all three factors predict feelings of racial group status threat among White Americans, albeit differentially as a function of political ideology. In this chapter we also begin to explore consequences of group status threat for democracy, specifically attitudes about speech.Chapter 4 manipulates exposure to the prospect of increasing racial diversity in American media and culture in two studies to test its impact on racial group status threat and anti-democratic attitudes. Though the manipulation focuses on the socio-cultural domain, the same pattern of political moderation of racial group status threat found in response to shifting national racial population demographics in Chapter 2 emerges. Moreover, exposure to the prospect of increased racial diversity in media reduces support for free speech.Chapter 5 discusses theoretical and practical implications of these findings, along with limitations and future directions.
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