The Measurement and Structure of Microaggressive Communications by White People Against Black People
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The Measurement and Structure of Microaggressive Communications by White People Against Black People Jonathan W. Kanter1 · Monnica T. Williams2 · Adam M. Kuczynski1 · Mariah D. Corey1 · Ryan M. Parigoris3 · Cathea M. Carey4 · Katherine E. Manbeck1 · Elliot C. Wallace1 · Daniel C. Rosen5
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Previous research on microaggressions has emphasized the frequency of and distress produced by microaggressions as reported by people of color. The current research supplements the existing literature by developing a self-report measure of White individuals’ microaggressive likelihood against Black people, the Cultural Cognitions and Actions Scale (CCAS). Study 1 developed the CCAS through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of responses to CCAS items from a sample of 978 non-Hispanic White undergraduate students. The final scale comprised four factors (Negative Attitudes, Colorblindness, Objectifying, and Avoidance) assessing microaggressive likelihood, and CCAS total and factor scores were significantly related to several other indicators of racism and bias. Study 2 involved 31 of the previous participants in a lab-based discussion of race-related issues with a confederate and provided initial support for the predictive validity of the measure. Overall, this report supports a growing literature that microaggressions are more than innocuous, harmless behaviors, unrelated to racism, and instead represent relevant processes within the science of racism and bias. It also provides a potential means of testing the effectiveness of interventions intended to reduce the commission of microaggressions. Keywords Racism · Discrimination · Microaggressions · Prejudice · Bias · Race Efforts to decrease racism and cultivate antiracist action in White people must attack the problem at multiple levels. For example, recent protests against police violence towards Black Americans may produce necessary reforms at the policy level (e.g., campaignzero.org) but such achievements must be supplemented with efforts to address the root causes of racism at the psychological level for real and sustained change to occur. These efforts must address both explicit racist acts and the more subtle manifestations of racial bias * Jonathan W. Kanter [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Box 351525, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
2
Department of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, CA, USA
3
Psychology Department, University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA
4
School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
5
Department of Counseling and Health Psychology, Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA, USA
that are likely to be expressed even by those White people who claim antiracist values. At this level, for several decades, psychological scientists have been increasing our understanding of a set of psychological processes that produce biased and discriminatory behavior and practices in White people. These processes include but
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