Is One’s Own Ethnic Prejudice Always Subtle? The Inconsistency of Prejudice Endorsement and Prejudice Awareness Depends on Self-Related Egalitarian Standards and Motivations
Humboldt-Universität (insgesamt)
In light of current egalitarian norms, it seems intuitive to assume that people endorsing ethnically prejudicial beliefs are largely unaware of their xenophobic content. However, a cognitive consistency perspective would suggest that individuals with low anti-prejudice standards might care less if their opinions are prejudiced. Corroborating this idea, Study 1 (N = 919) reveals that intra-individually the endorsement of prejudicial beliefs was negatively related to their evaluation as xenophobic (prejudice awareness), but more so among individuals with strong self-related egalitarian standards. Study 2 (N = 1,201) replicates these findings and shows that egalitarian standards salience led to a stronger negative association between prejudice endorsement and awareness. This suggests that low-egalitarians are less suitable targets for awareness-raising components of anti-prejudice interventions.
Notes
This article was supported by the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.