Biased Beliefs About White Releasees’ Sensitivity to Social Pain

Abstract

The accurate perception of others’ pain is a prerequisite to provide needed support. However, social pain perception is prone to biases. Multiple characteristics of individuals bias both physical and social pain judgments (e.g., ethnicity and facial structure). The current work extends this research to a chronically stigmatized population: released prisoners (i.e., releasees). Recognizing the large United States releasee rates and the significant role support plays in successful re-integration, we conducted four studies testing whether people have biased judgments of White male releasees’ sensitivity to social pain. Compared with the noncriminally involved, people judged releasees as less sensitive to social pain in otherwise identical situations (Studies 1a–3), an effect that was mediated by perceived life hardship (Study 2). Finally, judging releasees’ as relatively insensitive to social pain undermined perceivers’ social support judgments (Study 3). The downstream consequences of these findings on re-integration success are discussed.