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Spring 2018 Clara Mayor Award Winner
American Ideal: Emotions and Behaviors Associated with Ideal
Self-Discrepancies in the Context of Prejudice
Rachael Waldrop
In September, I will begin my second year of the Experimental Psychology Master’s program at Western Washington University, continuing the research I have been working on for the past year and throughout this summer. Within the realm of stereotyping and prejudice, my research focus is to understand people’s values regarding diversity, race, and egalitarianism and the emotions may motivate those values. As discussions about racial bias have switched from overt, explicit manifestations, to more implicit forms people are being told they hold some level of implicit, cognitive bias, which makes navigating the topic of race confusing and frustrating. Even among those who are personally committed to overcoming their biases, there are many questions and worries about how to act during interracial interactions. Existing research has explored how values focused on being nonprejudice influence behavior. According to the framework of self-discrepancy theory, when people violate their standards by engaging in some form of prejudiced responding—whether that is saying something stereotypical or laughing at an offensive joke—they experience inner conflict as their behavior does not reflect their values. This conflict, consistent with what Higgins would consider an ought self-discrepancy because people are doing something they believe they ought not to, can lead to negative emotions such as guilt, shame, and anxiety. These emotions, due to the inner discomfort they produce, motivate people to avoid the behaviors and situations that led to those feelings, take time to think about their actions, and become more conscientious in similar, future situations. Researchers have explored the negative, self-directed emotions that people feel when they experience a self-discrepancy by engaging in some form of racist behavior (Devine, Monteith, Zuwerink, & Elliot, 1991; Devine & Monteith, 1993; Monteith, Devine, & Zuwerink, 1993) and how these emotions influence future regulation of behavior (Monteith, 1993; Monteith, Mark, & Ashburn-Nardo, 2010). However, the well-intentioned avoidance of outward displays of prejudice can negatively impact the quality of interracial interactions by causing people to avoid interracial interactions altogether.
Through my research, I aim to understand the process by which people may pursue other, more positively oriented values that could lead to approach-related behaviors. Higgins outlined in self-discrepancy theory that people are also motivated by positive emotions—such as happiness, pride, and achievement—to pursue their ideal-oriented values. Within the context of race, idealistic values that focus on displaying and spreading equality and egalitarianism, rather than values that focus on avoiding prejudice, could be what drive people to pursue opportunities to engage in interracial interactions, participate in social justice activities, or learn more about systemic racial issues. Most recently, I have been conducting interviews to disentangle the two types of values people may hold when they think about race, diversity, and prejudice. Receiving the Clara Mayo grant has helped me implement these interviews which are paramount in the subsequent studies I will be conducting this fall.