Endorsing Negative Intergroup Attitudes to Justify Failure To Confront Prejudice

Resumen

While most people believe they would speak up against prejudice, many fail to do so. We identify a harmful consequence of such inaction through examining its impact on bystanders’ own prejudice. Across four studies in two countries (N=1003), using a behavioral paradigm and experimental pretest-posttest design, participants witnessed prejudice and discrimination against an outgroup minority (Jewish/Roma in Hungary, Muslim/Latinx in US). Drawing on self-justification theories, we predicted and found across Studies 1-3, that those who had an opportunity but did not confront, endorsed more negative intergroup attitudes following the incident both compared to their own prior attitudes and to control groups - that is, those who witnessed the same prejudice but had no opportunity to confront, and those who did not to confront different (non-intergroup) prejudice. In Study 4, the proposed effect occurred only among those who initially valued confronting. We suggest that failure to speak up amplifies prejudice in society.

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Cómo citar (APA 7)

Szekeres, H., Halperin, E., Kende, A., & Saguy, T. (2021). Endorsing Negative Intergroup Attitudes to Justify Failure To Confront Prejudice. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302221120488