title: Shooting the messenger to spite the message? Exploring reactions to claims of racial bias.
abstract: Two experiments examined aspects of the communicator, message, and audience in producing evaluative backlash toward minorities who make claims of ongoing racial bias. In Experiment 1, participants evaluated a White or Black confederate who gave a speech expressing no claim, a mild claim, or an extreme claim of racial bias. Results indicated a race-specific evaluative backlash: Participants more negatively rated Black compared with White communicators, but only when the claim was extreme. Experiment 2 found that participants more negatively rated Black (vs. White) communicators when they used low-quality arguments, but this backlash was eliminated when Black communicators used high-quality arguments. Furthermore, participants who held stronger meritocracy beliefs and who heard low-quality arguments were more likely to evaluate Black communicators harshly. These findings clarify the conditions under which people from advantaged groups are more likely to recognize claims of racial bias as legitimate and respond favorably to the communicator.
authors: Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA. jennifer.schultz@tufts.edu
authors: Jennifer R
authors: JR
authors: Schultz
authors: Keith B
authors: KB
authors: Maddox
mesh_terms: D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D001290:Attitude; D003142:Communication; D034462:Dissent and Disputes; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D063505:Racism / Q000523:psychology*; D014743:Videotape Recording; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology