Regulating emotions in the face of discrimination
Discrimination, whether experienced personally or witnessed, is a stressor that can harm mental and physical health. Research on managing stressors finds that reflecting on the event from a third-person, distanced point of view rather than from a personal, immersed point of view can reduce its negative effects (Ayduk & Kross, 2010). Building on this intriguing line of research, we are pursuing a project, funded by the National Science Foundation, to examine whether the benefits of distanced reflection on engagement with negative life events extends to group-based discrimination. We consider the influence of distanced compared with immersed forms of emotion regulation on the emotional reactions, physiological arousal, cognitive functioning, and collective-action intentions of members of different low-status groups as they relive and/or witness discrimination against their group. Initial work suggests that distanced engagement with discrimination may only produce modest levels of relief from the emotional toll of re-living past incidences of sexism (Duker, Green, Onyeador, & Richeson, 2022). And, what affective benefits do accrue, may reduce willingness to engage in collective-action (Green et al., 2023). Our ongoing research is considering the efficacy of a third type of emotion-regulation strategy; namely generating a redemption narrative (see again, Duker et al., 2022).
Stigma-based solidarity
Another important line of research in the lab explores how the experience of group-based discrimination affects relations among members of different socially-stigmatized groups. Specifically, the Common Ingroup Identity Model of intergroup relations (CIIM; Gaertner & Dovidio 2000) suggests that perceived discrimination may lead members of different stigmatized groups to categorize themselves in terms of a common “disadvantaged” identity and, in turn, produce positive attitudes toward other stigmatized groups. Consistent with the CIIM, we found that exposing racial minority participants (e.g. Asians-Americans) to anti-Asian prejudice leads to the expression of greater perceived similarity with, and more positive evaluations of, Blacks & Latinos (Craig & Richeson, 2012). In other words, making ingroup discrimination salient can promote stigma-based solidarity. However, extant social psychological research (i.e. Social Identity Theory; Tajfel & Turner, 1979) suggests that making ingroup discrimination salient can lead members of one stigmatized group to evaluate other stigmatized groups more negatively. Consistent with this idea, we have found that making sexism salient for White women or making racism salient for racial minorities leads to more negative evaluations of racial and sexual minorities, respectively (Craig et al., 2012; Craig & Richeson, 2014).
Taken together, this work suggests that salient discrimination leads to more positive relations among groups within a dimension of identity (e.g. among racial minorities) but, more negative relations among groups that cross dimensions of identity (e.g. racial and sexual minorities). Our most recent research suggests, however, that this cross-identity dimensional divide can be bridged by drawing similarities between the types of discrimination the groups have faced (Cortland et al., 2017). Our ongoing work seeks to examine the implications of this work for the creation and maintenance of multiracial political coalitions as well as investigations of other avenues to promote stigma-based solidarity and reduce cross-group derogation in the face of salient ingroup discrimination (Craig & Richeson, 2016).