Effects of Affiliative Motivation and Confrontation Style on Anti-Black Attitudes and Social Consequences

Anti-Black racism occurs on a daily basis and comes with both physical and psychological costs to its targets. One effective way to reduce discrimination is through confrontation, which could come in the form of a hostile accusation of racism (hot confrontation) or a polite emphasis on egalitarian values (cold confrontation). However, confronting often has social costs that may include damaging the relationship between the confronter and the perpetrator. This research determined whether social relationships can reduce anti-Black bias while also serving as a buffer against the social consequences of confronting. Participants (n = 168) were randomly assigned to a 2(affiliative motivation: high v. low) x 2(confrontation type: hot v. cold) x 2(racial content of the confrontation: yes v. no) between-subjects design. Affiliative motivation had no effect on prejudice reduction or the social consequences for the confronter. Moreover, the type and content of the confrontation had no effect on prejudice reduction. However, similar to past research, participants who received a confrontation with racial content liked the confronter more when they received a cold (versus hot) confrontation. Implications of this research are discussed in terms of the role confrontations play in relationships and their influence on social consequences over biased attitude reduction