“I’m not racist!” : white fragility and mindset theories of racial bias

4 Introduction . 5 White Fragility . 6 Applying Mindset Theory to Racial Bias . 11 The Present Study . 16 Methods. 18 Participants . 18 Procedure . 18 Materials and Measures . 20 Results . 25 Mindset of Racial Bias . 25 Racial Stress Scenarios . 25 Fragility Trigger Article . 27 Article Choice . 28 Discussion . 28 Intervention Outcome . 28 Relations Between Mindset and White Fragility . 30 Relations Among White Fragility Reactions . 35 Unique Consistency of Avoidance . 36 Limitations and Future Directions . 36 Conclusion . 39 References . 40 Appendix A . 48 Appendix B . 51 Appendix C . 52 Appendix D . 55 Appendix E . 57 Tables . 59 White Fragility and Mindset Theories of Racial Bias 4 Abstract White fragility describes a white person’s hypersensitivity to racial stress due to insulation from racial diversity. White fragility elicits displays of defensiveness, avoidance, or guilt in response to racial stress. Dweck (2011)’s mindset theory suggests that individuals’ approaches to racial stress vary based on whether they view racial bias as fixed or malleable. We tested the hypothesis that individuals who underwent a malleable mindset intervention of racial bias would display less guilt, defensiveness, and avoidance when confronted with racial stress compared to individuals who underwent a fixed mindset intervention of racial bias. White participants (N = 47) read an ostensibly real article describing either the malleable or fixed nature of racial bias. Participants then self-reported their mindset of racial bias. They then completed three dependent measures. First, they were given hypothetical scenarios designed to elicit racial stress, and their verbal responses were recorded. Second, they read an article designed to trigger white fragility and reported their emotional responses. Third, they were asked to indicate how interested they would be in reading news stories that engage with racial stress, validate fragility reactions, or avoid race entirely. Results show there was no effect of interventionWhite fragility describes a white person’s hypersensitivity to racial stress due to insulation from racial diversity. White fragility elicits displays of defensiveness, avoidance, or guilt in response to racial stress. Dweck (2011)’s mindset theory suggests that individuals’ approaches to racial stress vary based on whether they view racial bias as fixed or malleable. We tested the hypothesis that individuals who underwent a malleable mindset intervention of racial bias would display less guilt, defensiveness, and avoidance when confronted with racial stress compared to individuals who underwent a fixed mindset intervention of racial bias. White participants (N = 47) read an ostensibly real article describing either the malleable or fixed nature of racial bias. Participants then self-reported their mindset of racial bias. They then completed three dependent measures. First, they were given hypothetical scenarios designed to elicit racial stress, and their verbal responses were recorded. Second, they read an article designed to trigger white fragility and reported their emotional responses. Third, they were asked to indicate how interested they would be in reading news stories that engage with racial stress, validate fragility reactions, or avoid race entirely. Results show there was no effect of intervention on displays of white fragility, but there were significant relationships between reported mindsets of racial bias and several white fragility variables. Individuals with more malleable mindsets of racial bias displayed less avoidance and defensiveness and more openness than individuals with more fixed mindsets. The findings indicate a relationship between mindset of racial bias and white fragility behaviors. White Fragility and Mindset Theories of Racial Bias 5 “I’m Not Racist! ”: White Fragility and Mindset Theories of Racial Bias In the summer of 2017, white supremacists marched the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia during a neo-nazi rally that resulted in several assaults and one murder (Hauslohner, Duggan, Gillum, & Davis, 2017). This event, and others like it --including an incident at American University in which nooses and confederate flags with cotton attached were hung around campus-reminds us that racism remains a critical issue in the United States (Anderson, 2017). Despite the importance of confronting systemic and cultural racism through discourse and activism, conversations about race are often met with hostility or deflection (Apfelbaum et al., 2008; Bonilla-Silva & Dietrich, 2011; Knowles & Lowery, 2012; Lowery, Knowles & Unzueta, 2007; Mendes, Blascovich, Lickel, & Hunter, 2002). The theory of white fragility explains why white people often react to racial stress with defensiveness, guilt, or avoidance (DiAngelo, 2011). White fragility describes a white person’s strong affective reactions and defensive behaviors resulting from an inability to cope with racial stress. White fragility leads white people to experience negative emotions like anger and guilt, and to engage in defensive behaviors like argumentation or avoidance, when confronted with racial stress (Trawalter, Richeson, & Shelton, 2009). The theory of white fragility (DiAngelo, 2011) is not a psychological theory, but there is substantial evidence in the psychological literature that lends credibility to the construct. Mindset theory is particularly applicable to the phenomenon of white fragility. Dweck (2002)’s mindset theory suggests that people’s mindsets about a trait being fixed or malleable will influence their likelihood to attempt difficult tasks in which that trait is utilized (e.g., Dweck, 2002). For example, people who believe they can improve their White Fragility and Mindset Theories of Racial Bias 6 mathematical abilities are more likely to attempt difficult math problems than people who believe their abilities are fixed. Applying mindset theory to racial stress, individuals’ approaches to racial stress have been shown to vary based on whether they view the trait of racial bias as fixed or malleable (Carr, Dweck, & Pauker, 2012; Neel & Shapiro, 2012; Rattan & Dweck, 2010). People with fixed mindsets of racial bias essentially believe that someone is either racist or not racist. People with malleable mindsets of racial bias believe that racism is something that one can actively work to reduce. While other studies have investigated the relationship between mindset and racial stress, ours is the first to examine mindset’s effect on white fragility as a comprehensive theory that includes reactions of defensiveness, avoidance, and guilt. In the present study, we investigate the effect of a mindset intervention on racial bias mindset, and the effect of mindset on affective and behavioral white fragility responses to racial stress. White Fragility White fragility is a state in which even a small amount of racial stress becomes intolerable for whites, at which point said racial stress elicits a variety of defensive moves (DiAngelo, 2011; Flynn, 2015). White people tend to experience racial stress as a result of insulation from racial diversity and the