Racism and sexism are pervasive forms of discrimination that cause significant individual and societal burden.Understanding manipulable psychological processes that contribute to these modes of discrimination would aid in developing anti-prejudice interventions that target them. Psychological flexibility has been proposed as a potential tool in combating prejudice by modifying one’s relationship with unwanted or automatic prejudicial thoughts, in addition to the ability to take the perspective of marginalized groups. A survey assessing psychological inflexibility and perspective taking along with anti-racist/anti-sexist attitudes and behaviors was administered to a sample of 395 undergraduate students. Perspective taking predicted anti-racist/anti-sexist behaviors above and beyond their corresponding attitudes.Psychological inflexibility was a not a significant predictor of relevant attitudes or behaviors.Our findings suggest that perspective taking may be an important target of anti-prejudice interventions.
Article
The Role of Psychological Inflexibility and Perspective Taking in Anti-Racism and Anti-Sexism
Personality and Individual Differences
Document Type
Article
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Publication Date
1-1-2021
Disciplines
Abstract
Citation Information
Davis, C.H., Krafft, J., Hicks, E.T. & Levin, M.E. (In Press). The role of psychological inflexibility and perspective taking in anti-racism and anti-sexism. Personality and Individual Differences.