Understanding barriers to reconciliation: what mediates the relationship between social norms and reconciliation behaviours?

Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is an issue with a long history. Since 2006, Reconciliation Australia has been encouraging companies, government agencies, schools and universities to develop Reconciliation Action Plans. The extent to which this initiative will be successful in reducing the 17 year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, will depend on the willingness of non-Indigenous people to implement the Reconciliation Action Plans. The aim of the present study was to investigate factors that facilitate or hinder reconciliation behaviours of staff and students in psychology departments across Australia. A sample of 238 non-Indigenous staff and students completed an online questionnaire. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions in which social norms (the extent to which others are described as having adopted either pro or neutral attitudes towards engaging in reconciliation behaviours) were manipulated. Two multiple mediation models were used to investigate the mediating effects of collective guilt, moral outrage, intergroup anxiety and modern racism on the relationship between perceived social norms and reconciliation behaviours and active avoidance respectively. A bootstrap procedure specified that moral outrage, intergroup anxiety and modern racism were mediators of the relationship between perceived social norms and reconciliation behaviours. A second bootstrap procedure indicated that intergroup anxiety and modern racism were mediators of the relationship between perceived social norms and active avoidance. This suggests that willing to engage in reconciliation behaviours is complex, involving a balance between factors that promote or hinder the willingness to engage in reconciliation. Explanations for the findings and implications for developing cultural competence in psychology departments are discussed