Gretchen B. Sechrist

Changing Racial Beliefs by Providing Consensus Information

In two experiments, the authors found that providing feedback to European American participants that others held different beliefs about African Americans than they originally estimated significantly changed the beliefs that they held about that group. The observed changes were stronger for people who were exposed to information about the opinions of ingroup rather than outgroup members and persisted when measured in an unrelated experimental session held 1 week later. The authors also found in a third experiment that providing information that others agreed with the individual’s own racial stereotypes bolstered them such that they were more resistant to subsequent change attempts. Taken together, the results suggest that learning about the racial beliefs of others has the potential to either produce or inhibit stereotype change.

Reporting discrimination in public and private contexts.

The authors tested the hypothesis that members of stigmatized groups would be unwilling to report that negative events that occur to them are the result of discrimination when they are in the presence of members of a nonstigmatized group. Supporting this hypothesis, women and African Americans were more likely to report that a failing grade assigned by a man or a European American was caused by discrimination, rather than by their own lack of ability, when they made the judgment privately and in the presence of a fellow stigmatized group member. However, they were more likely to indicate that the cause of the failure was lack of ability, rather than discrimination, when they expected to make these judgments aloud in the presence of a nonstigmatized group member.

Ask, Answer, and Announce: Three stages in perceiving and responding to discrimination

Discrimination towards members of low-status groups takes a variety of forms, and results in a variety of negative consequences for its victims. Furthermore, discrimination may influence its targets either directly (for instance, when housing discrimination makes insurance, mortgage rates, or rents higher for African Americans than for whites) or indirectly, that is via perceptions on the part of the stigmatised. In the latter case the outcomes are caused or amplified by perceptions on the part of the victim that he or she is the target of discrimination. This chapter focuses on current research concerning factors that influence the perception of discrimination and its indirect influence on individuals. We review work from our own lab as well as from the field more broadly, focusing on research that attempts to explain contextual and individual variability in how events that are potentially due to discrimination are initially perceived, subsequently interpreted, and then publicly reported or withheld.

Mood as Information in Making Attributions to Discrimination

Previous research demonstrates that people use their mood as information when making a variety of judgments. The present research examines the extent to which people use their current mood as information when making attributions to discrimination. Women were given a positive or negative mood induction and either provided with an external attribution for their current mood state or not. They then reported on discrimination occurring to themselves and other women. When an external attribution for induced mood was not provided, women in positive moods were less likely to report discrimination across three measures than were women in negative moods. When an external attribution was provided, mood had no effect. Implications for understanding the effects of context and individual differences in the perception and reporting of experiences with discrimination are discussed.

Social Reasoning about Racial Exclusion in Intimate and Nonintimate Relationships

This research investigated the contextual nature of decisions about racial exclusion by analyzing why individuals might be willing to accept members of other racial groups into some types of social relationships but nevertheless exclude them from other types of relationships. Our analysis examined the underlying reasoning processes used to make such decisions. We conducted two studies to test the types of reasoning used by young adults regarding cross-race interpersonal relationships. Study 1 (N = 292) demonstrated that racial exclusion is more likely to be condoned and justified as an issue of personal choice and less likely to be seen as an issue of overt racism in intimate than in nonintimate contexts. Study 2 (N = 196) demonstrated that participants viewed it as more wrong to exclude others from cross-race than samerace relationships and that when relationships were high (vs. low) in physical contact they were viewed as more likely to be issues of personal choice, regardless of whether they were same- or cross-race. The results help explain why there are substantial contextual differences in the extent to which exclusion of individuals based on racial group membership is perceived as acceptable.

The Influence of Social Consensus Information on Intergroup Helping Behavior

Previous research demonstrates that social consensus information (information about other peoples beliefs) has a powerful influence on intergroup attitudes. The present study examined the influence of consensus information on helping behavior. White participants were provided with favorable or no consensus information about African Americans, and then we assessed their racial attitudes and their willingness to help an African American versus a White person. Replicating previous findings, we found that individuals who received favorable, as compared to no, consensus information had more favorable attitudes toward African Americans. More importantly, our results demonstrated that participants who received favorable consensus information were more likely to help an African American individual than those who did not receive consensus information. Consensus information did not influence behavior toward a White person. In understanding when and why consensus information influences stereotypes and prejudice, we hope to create a useful method to reduce negative intergroup attitudes and behaviors.