title: Self-regulation and social pressure reduce prejudiced responding and increase the motivation to be non-prejudiced.
abstract: Self-regulation constrains the expression of prejudice, but when self-regulation falters, the immediate environment can act as an external source of prejudice regulation. This hypothesis derives from work demonstrating that external controls and internal self-regulation can prompt goal pursuit in the absence of self-imposed controls. Across four studies, we found support for this complementary model of prejudice regulation. In Study 1, self-regulatory fatigue resulted in less motivation to be non-prejudiced, compared to a non-fatigued control. In Study 2, strong (vs. weak) perceived social pressure was related to greater motivation to be non-prejudiced. In Study 3, dispositional self-regulation predicted non-prejudice motivation when perceived social pressure was weak or moderate, but not when it was strong. Finally, in Study 4 self-regulatory fatigue increased prejudice when social pressure was weak but not when it was strong.
authors.affiliation: a University of North Carolina.
authors.forename: Steven G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Buzinski
authors.affiliation: b Lebanon Valley College.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Kitchens
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D011287:Prejudice / Q000523:psychology*; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D066262:Social Norms; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Motivation; prejudice; self-regulation; social norms; social pressure