SGER: Collaborative Research: Racialized Explanations: Consequences for Intergroup and Intragroup Processes

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In the weeks following Hurricane Katrina, Americans increasingly asked: "Why were the rescue efforts so slow?" There were many types of explanations offered for the slow official response to the disaster, but only one that suggested that racism was the real culprit. These experiments examine the racialized explanations (i.e., explanations based upon racism) for the slow rescue efforts to Hurricane Katrina, and contribute to the growing body of research on the costs of claiming to be a victim of discrimination. Research in this area has demonstrated that when Black Americans blame events on discrimination rather than on other causes, they are derogated. However, this work has tended to focus on Whites' reactions (e.g., interpersonal processes such as liking) toward individual Black claimants. Much less is known about how Black Americans react when other Blacks claim that racial discrimination is to blame. Even less is known about the way that these types of claims affect social identification processes among Blacks and Whites. This research examines the intergroup and intragroup consequences of racialized explanations. The PIs hypothesized that racialized explanations increase racial awareness as well as the extent to which individuals identify with specific racial groups. Racialized explanations are generally thought to be threatening to both Black and White Americans, and when people encounter threats to important aspects of the self, they turn to their identities to alleviate these threats. For White Americans, who are more likely than Black Americans to believe that American society is one in which all citizens have equal opportunities and life chances, racial discrimination claims challenge deeply-held beliefs. For Black Americans, racialized explanations are also threatening to the self because they remind them that an important part of the self (i.e., one's racial identity) is chronically and pervasively devalued. Consequently, racial discrimination claims should cause members of disadvantaged groups to turn to fellow ingroup members for support and collective validation. A second set of hypotheses that guided this research involves individuals' willingness to help victims of the hurricane. The PIs hypothesized that increases in racial awareness and identification would lead Whites to decrease their willingness to empathize with and help the predominantly Black hurricane survivors; whereas increases in racial awareness and identification would lead Blacks to be more willing to empathize with and help Black hurricane survivors. Finally, this research also examines the factors that may help to attenuate intergroup bias and increase overall willingness to help hurricane victims. By drawing from research on altruism the PIs hypothesized that by effectively increasing individuals' empathetic feelings towards victims, less divisive intergroup attitudes result, and this in turn increases willingness to help survivors regardless of their race. Findings from this research can inform understanding of the effects of racial discrimination claims upon intergroup perceptions, biases and relationships.