How the Opinions of Racial Minorities Influence Judgments of Discrimination

Abstract

We investigated the influence of target versus non-target group members on judgments of racial discrimination. In Study 1, Black individuals were regarded as better sources of information about racial discrimination than White individuals. In Study 2, Black peers were more influential than White peers on judgments of discrimination. In Study 3, the influence of Black peers was moderated by internal concern with prejudice, and mediated by the perceived credibility of the peer. We discuss these findings in terms of targeted social referencing, whereby members of relevant target groups exert more influence than members of non-target groups over assessments of discrimination.

Notes

Note. Means with different subscripts are significantly different from each other.

¹The pattern of means and the predicted effects are the same with the entire sample included [main effect of previous participant rating F(1, 99) = 27.91, p < .001; interaction of previous participant rating and race F(1, 99) = 5.60, p = .02].

Note. IMS and EMS are centered, Race is coded [–½: White; +½: Black] and Opinion is coded [–½ : Deny; +½ : Detect]. The proposed mediator, “Credibility,” is the average of the standardized values of Liking, Helpful, and Knowledgeable (Cronbach's α = .78). The two dotted boxes mark the three-way interaction, which is no longer significant when controlling for Credibility, while the two grayed boxes mark the two legs of the indirect path, the product of which is estimated with a bootstrap 95% CI to test mediation. Bootstrap confidence interval computed with 5,000 iterations and bias corrected, around the product (.09) of the Race × IMS coefficient predicting Credibility (.12) and the Credibility × Opinion coefficient predicting discrimination ratings (.74).

*p < .05. **p < .01. † = .05 < p < .10.