Cognitive Complexity and the Perception of Subtle Racism

Abstract

The present research demonstrated that cognitive complexity is related to the perception of contemporary, subtle racism. Results indicated that the perception of subtle racism was related to attributional complexity. Further, greater attributional complexity was also related to greater racial complexity, defined as the ability of individuals to overcome the normative assumption that racism is no longer a major social problem in the United States and the extent that individuals think about racism. The relationship between attributional complexity and racial complexity held even when accounting for need for cognition, perspective taking, empathy, and political ideology. Finally, we found that racial complexity mediated the effect of attributional complexity on the perception of subtle racism. Taken together, the results of these three studies contribute a general cognitive mechanism related to the perception of subtle racism; an extension of cognitive and attributional complexity; and a new construct, racial complexity, related to the perception of contemporary, subtle racism.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Jenna N. Marks, Rachel A. Goldfarb, Wendy S. Vanden Berg-Foels, and the members of the Racism, Experience and Perception Lab at Colgate University for their invaluable support. Thank you also to the editor and anonymous reviewers for their extraordinarily helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.

Notes

Note. SR = subtle racism; AC = attributional complexity; NFC = need for cognition; IR = interracial contact.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

Note. Boldface indicates item loadings on the respective subscales.

Note. Political Ideology, 1 (very conservative) to 7 (very liberal). RCS-NAAR/R = Racial Complexity Scale–Normative Assumptions About Race/Racism subscale; RCS-RR = Racial Complexity Scale–Racial Reasoning subscale.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

*p < .05. **p < .01.

¹The aggregate racial complexity measure was used for all analyses in Study 3 because results from Study 2 indicated that the effect of AC was similar across both subscales.