Pick your perspective: Racial group membership and judgments of intent, harm, and discrimination

How do people judge the intentions of a perpetrator and the harm experienced by a victim in cases of racial discrimination? How do these judgments influence attributions to discrimination? We examined these questions in 4 studies, predicting that Whites’ and Blacks’ judgments would reflect different group-based perspectives. Supporting our hypotheses, White authors describing an arrest denied intent and ignored harm relative to Black authors (Study 1). When judging whether an event was discrimination, Whites were influenced by intent, but Blacks were influenced by intent and harm (Study 2). Finally, instructing people to take the victim’s perspective increased Whites’ judgments of intent, harm, and discrimination (Studies 3 and 4), while Blacks’ judgments generally remained the same (Study 4). Our results demonstrate one reason why Whites and Blacks judge discrimination differently—they adopt different perspectives when evaluating intent and harm—and offer a way to increase Whites’ recognition of discrimination: perspective-taking.

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Ethnic-racial discrimination experiences and ethnic-racial identity predict adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment: Evidence for a compensatory risk-resilience model

International Journal of Behavioral Development ◽

10.1177/0165025420912013 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 44 (5) ◽

pp. 433-440

Author(s):

Michael R. Sladek ◽

Adriana J. Umaña-Taylor ◽

Grace Oh ◽

Mary Beth Spang ◽

Liliana M. Uribe Tirado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Depressive Symptoms ◽

Racial Identity ◽

Racial Discrimination ◽

Psychosocial Adjustment ◽

Group Membership ◽

Self Esteem ◽

Racial Group ◽

Risk And Resilience ◽

Related Risk ◽

Racially Mixed

Theory and empirical evidence indicate that ethnic-racial discrimination serves as a risk factor for adolescents’ psychosocial adjustment, whereas ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development promotes positive youth adjustment and can mitigate the negative outcomes of discrimination-related risk. In Colombia, the legacies of an ethnic-racial hierarchy, mestizaje ideology (i.e., the assumption that everyone is racially mixed), and contemporary multiculturalism education reforms create a unique context for understanding adolescents’ experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination, ERI development, and their implications for psychosocial adjustment. In this study of Colombian adolescents ( N = 462; Mage = 15.90 years; 47.3% female), almost 40% of participants reported experiencing ethnic-racial-based discrimination. Experiencing more frequent ethnic-racial discrimination was associated with lower self-esteem and higher depressive symptoms, whereas higher ERI resolution (i.e., gaining sense of clarity about ethnic-racial group membership) and affirmation (i.e., feeling positively about ethnic-racial group membership) were associated with higher self-esteem and lower depressive symptoms. ERI exploration (i.e., learning history and gaining knowledge about ethnic-racial group membership) was also associated with higher self-esteem and moderated the association between discrimination and depressive symptoms, such that this association was stronger at higher compared to lower levels of ERI exploration. Findings provide novel evidence for ethnic-racial-related risk and resilience processes among Colombian youth.

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Perceptions of Racial Group Size in a Minority-majority Area

Sociological Perspectives ◽

10.1177/0731121416675869 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 60 (3) ◽

pp. 479-496 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Robert M. Kunovich

Keyword(s):

Racial Discrimination ◽

Group Size ◽

Minority Groups ◽

Racial Group ◽

Hispanic Population ◽

White Population ◽

Harris County ◽

Asian Populations ◽

The Impact ◽

Objective Size

Americans overestimate the size of minority groups and underestimate the size of the majority. Research on perceived racial group size, however, has focused on areas where non-Hispanic whites are dominant and has neglected to examine the impact of group conflict attitudes other than perceived threats. This study examines perceptions of group size in Harris County, Texas, in 2007, which became a minority-majority area by 2006. It also examines whether perceived racial discrimination influences perceived group size. Analyses demonstrate that people underestimate the size of the largest group, which in this case is the local Hispanic population. The sizes of the black and Asian populations, by contrast, are overestimated while estimates of the white population are accurate. Race and perceived discrimination play important roles in shaping perceptions of group size. Perceptions of group size are also based on the objective size of these groups, but are unrelated to recent changes in group size.

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RACIAL ATTITUDES AMONG SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A FOLLOW-UP STUDY AFTER FOUR YEARS

Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal ◽

10.2224/sbp.2008.36.8.1061 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 36 (8) ◽

pp. 1061-1062

Author(s):

Neeshi Singh Pillay ◽

Steven J. Collings

Keyword(s):

Data Collection ◽

South African ◽

Representative Sample ◽

Group Membership ◽

Racial Group ◽

Modern Racism ◽

Follow Up Study ◽

Item Scores ◽

Over Time

In 2002, moderately high levels of modern and old-fashioned racism were documented in a representative sample of 433 students registered in undergraduate courses at a South African university (Pillay & Collings, 2004). In 2006, this survey was replicated using identical methods of data collection and a sample which was representative of university enrolments for 2006 in terms of gender and race: N = 543, gender = 50% female; race = black (40%), Indian (40%), white (17%), colored (3%). Over the four-year period, there was a significant increase in mean item-scores for old-fashioned racism [M = 1.95 vs. 2.15; F(1,971) = 15.16, p < .01], and this finding was supported by a significant study x race interaction, F(3,971) = 6.33, p < .05. Mean item scores increased significantly over time among Indians (2.11 vs. 2.29) but not among blacks (1.74 vs. 1.76), coloreds (2.01 vs. 2.04), or whites (2.33 vs. 2.35). A significant increase in levels of modern racism over the four-year period [M = 2.74 vs. 3.10; F(1,971) = 8.48, p < .01] was indicated by a significant study x race interaction, F(3,971) = 7.31, p < .05, with mean item scores increasing significantly over time among Indians (2.94 vs. 3.62) and whites (3.00 vs. 3.58) but not among blacks (2.04 vs. 2.06) or coloreds (2.47 vs. 2.49). Together these findings suggest that both overt and covert forms of racism persist, with levels of racism varying as a function of racial group membership.

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