The impact of social norms on navigating race in a racially diverse context

Abstract

To date, research has primarily focused on the colorblind norms and behaviors of majority-White participants in majority-White contexts. Extending this work to more diverse samples and contexts, across four studies, we examine whether colorblind norms link to the colorblind behavior of racially diverse participants living in a racially diverse (i.e., heterogeneous) context. Findings suggest that participants living in a racially diverse context did not endorse colorblind beliefs (Study 1) and norms (Study 2), and instead behaved in race-conscious ways and overwhelmingly used race in a photo identification task. Furthermore, in Study 3, we find that colorblind norms are largely activated by the belief that talking about race is prejudiced. When participants were exposed to a social norm that linked talking about race to prejudice, colorblind behavior became more prevalent. Finally, in Study 4, we see that greater diversity of one’s context is correlated to less endorsement of colorblindness.