The Role of Political Correctness on Social Perception and Behavioral Intentions

Abstract

We investigate the impact of political correctness (PC) on perception and behavioral intentions, evaluating its effectiveness in being inoffensive, inclusive, and nonstigmatizing. Despite its widespread institutional adoption, its real-world effects remain understudied. We explored three questions: Does PC succeed in its aims? How does it influence perceptions? How does it affect behavioral intentions? We conducted six survey-based experiments with 2,179 participants balanced across political affiliation, age, sex, and education. Tasks assessed reactions to PC, its effects on mood and perceptions, and how it shaped judgments and behavioral intentions in varied contexts. Results indicate PC often fails its objectives. Participants, especially Conservatives and older individuals, found it exclusive, stigmatizing, and offensive. It reduced positive mood, undermined a doctor's credibility, and decreased care-seeking intent. PC also lessened concern for serious issues and shifted behavioral motivations. Despite its inclusive intent, PC can trigger negative responses, warranting scrutiny of its pervasive use.

Keywords

political correctness speech perception behavior society

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agresti

(2010). Analysis of ordinal categorical data. Wiley.

Ahlin

E. M.

Gibbs

J. C.

Kavanaugh

P. R.

Lee

(2017). Support for restorative justice in a sample of U.S. university students. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 61(2), 229–245. https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X15596385

Allan

Burridge

(2006). Forbidden words: Taboo and the censoring of language. Cambridge University Press.

Barr

D. J.

Levy

Scheepers

Tily

H. J.

(2013). Random effects structure for confirmatory hypothesis testing: Keep it maximal. Journal of Memory and Language, 68(3), 255–278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2012.11.001

Barsalou

L. W.

(2020). Challenges and opportunities for grounding cognition. Journal of Cognition, 3(1), Article 31. https://doi.org/10.5334/joc.116

Bates

Mächler

Bolker

Walker

(2015). Fitting linear mixed-effects models using lme4. Journal of Statistical Software, 67(1), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v067.i01

Beal

J. C.

(2009). Three hundred years of prescriptivism (and counting). In I. T-B. van Ostade, & W. Van der Wurff (Eds.), Current issues in Late Modern English (pp. 35–56). Bern: Peter Lang.

Berman

(Ed.). (1992). Debating PC: The controversy over political correctness on college campuses. Dell Publishing.

Bourdieu

(1991). Language and symbolic power. Harvard University Press.

10.

Brugman

B. C.

Burgers

Vis

(2019). Metaphorical framing in political discourse through words vs. concepts: A meta-analysis. Language and Cognition, 11(1), 41–65. https://doi.org/10.1017/langcog.2019.5

11.

Burkhardt

(2010). Euphemism and truth. In Burkhardt

Nerlich

(Eds.), Tropical truth(s): The epistemology of metaphor and other tropes (pp. 355–372). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110230215.355

12.

Burridge

(2012). Euphemism and language change: The sixth and seventh ages. Lexis Journal in English Lexicology, 7, 65–92. https://doi.org/10.4000/lexis.621

13.

Cameron

(2012). Verbal hygiene. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203123898

14.

Christensen

R. H. B

. (2019). ordinal: Regression models for ordinal data (Version 2019.12-10) [R package]. https://cran.r-project.org/package=ordinal

15.

Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pub. L. No. 88-352, 78 Stat. 241 (1964). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-78/pdf/STATUTE-78-Pg241.pdf

16.

CNUS Language Letter. (2016). https://static1.squarespace.com/static/58eb0522e6f2e1dfce591dee/t/596e13f48419c2e5a0e95d30/1500386295291/CNUS-language-letter-2016.pdf

17.

Communications Act . (2003), c. 21 (UK). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/21/contents

18.

Conway

L. G.

Houck

S. C.

Gornick

L. J.

Repke

M. A.

(2018). Finding the loch ness monster: Left-wing authoritarianism in the United States. Political Psychology, 39(5), 1049–1067. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12470

19.

Curzan

(2014). Fixing English: Prescriptivism and language history. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139107327

20.

Davis

T. Y.

Moore

W. L.

(2014). Spanish not spoken here: Accounting for the racialization of the Spanish language in the experiences of Mexican migrants in the United States. Ethnicities, 14(5), 676–697. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796814523740

21.

Decoster

Claypool

H. M.

(2004). A meta-analysis of priming effects on impression formation supporting a general model of informational biases. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 8(1), 2–27. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0801_1

22.

Denny

B. T.

Ochsner

K. N.

(2014). Behavioral effects of longitudinal training in cognitive reappraisal. Emotion, 14(2), 425–433. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035276

23.

Dobbin

Kalev

(2016). Why diversity programs fail. Harvard Business Review, 94(7–8), 52–60. https://hbr.org/2016/07/why-diversity-programs-fail

24.

Fairclough

(1992). Discourse and text: Linguistic and intertextual analysis within discourse analysis. Discourse & Society, 3(2), 193–217. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926592003002004

25.

Fairclough

(2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. Routledge.

26.

Fairclough

(2003). Political correctness: The politics of culture and language. Discourse & Society, 14(1), 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926503014001927

27.

FeldmanHall

Shenhav

(2019). Resolving uncertainty in a social world. Nature Human Behaviour, 3(5), 426–435. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0590-x

28.

Fiaschi

Giuliani

Nieri

Salvati

(2020). How bad is your company? Measuring corporate wrongdoing beyond the magic of ESG metrics. Business Horizons, 63(3), 287–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.09.004

29.

Giles

(1973). Accent mobility: A model and some data. Anthropological Linguistics, 15(2), 87–105.

30.

Goddu

A. P.

O’Conor

K. J.

Lanzkron

Saheed

M. O.

Saha

Peek

M. E.

Haywood

Beach

M. C.

(2018). Do words matter? Stigmatizing language and the transmission of bias in the medical record. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 33(5), 685–691. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-017-4289-2

31.

Goncalo

J. A.

Chatman

J. A.

Duguid

M. M.

Kennedy

J. A.

(2015). Creativity from constraint? How the political correctness norm influences creativity in mixed-sex work groups. Administrative Science Quarterly, 60(1), 1–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001839214563975

32.

Graham

Haidt

Koleva

Motyl

Iyer

Wojcik

S. P.

Ditto

P. H.

(2013). Moral foundations theory: The pragmatic validity of moral pluralism. In Devine

Plant

(Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 47, pp. 55–130). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-407236-7.00002-4

33.

Graham

Haidt

Nosek

B. A.

(2009). Liberals and conservatives rely on different sets of moral foundations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5), 1029–1046. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015141

34.

Haidt

(2001). The emotional dog and its rational tail: A social intuitionist approach to moral judgment. Psychological Review, 108(4), 814–834. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.108.4.814

35.

Haidt

(2012). The righteous mind: Why good people are divided by politics and religion. Pantheon Books.

36.

Hibbing

J. R.

Smith

K. B.

Alford

J. R.

(2014). Differences in negativity bias underlie variations in political ideology. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 37(3), 297–307. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X13001192

37.

Hughes

(2010). Political correctness: A history of semantics and culture. Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444314960

38.

Jost

J. T.

Glaser

Kruglanski

A. W.

Sulloway

F. J.

(2003). Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129(3), 339–375. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.3.339

39.

Koopman

Lanaj

Lee

Y. E.

Alterman

Bradley

Stoverink

A. C.

(2023). Walking on eggshells: A self-control perspective on workplace political correctness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 108(3), 425–445. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001025

40.

Kühberger

(1998). The influence of framing on risky decisions: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 75(1), 23–55. https://doi.org/10.1006/obhd.1998.2781

41.

Lakoff

(2002). Moral politics: How liberals and conservatives think. University of Chicago Press.

42.

Lakoff

(2004). Don't think of an elephant!: Know your values and frame the debate: The essential guide for progressives. Chelsea Green Publishing Co.

43.

Lalonde

R. N.

Doan

Patterson

L. A.

(2000). Political correctness beliefs, threatened identities, and social attitudes. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 3(3), 317–336. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430200033006

44.

Latalova

Kamaradova

Prasko

(2014). Perspectives on perceived stigma and self-stigma in adult male patients with depression. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 10, 1399–1405. https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S54081

45.

Leaper

Brown

C. S.

(2008). Perceived experiences with sexism among adolescent girls. Child Development, 79(3), 685–704. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01151.x

46.

Loftus

E. F.

Palmer

J. C.

(1974). Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 13(5), 585–589. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-5371(74)80011-3

47.

Luntz

(2007). Words that work: It's not what you say, it's what people hear. Hachette Books.

48.

McCullagh

(1980). Regression models for ordinal data. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Methodological), 42(2), 109–142. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2517-6161.1980.tb01109.x

49.

Mischel

(2012). Self-control theory. In Van Lange

P. A. M.

Kruglanski

A. W.

Higgins

E. T.

(Eds.), Handbook of theories of social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 1–22). Sage Publications.

50.

Monin

Miller

D. T.

(2001). Moral credentials and the expression of prejudice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81(1), 33–43. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.81.1.33

51.

Morris

(2001). Political correctness. Journal of Political Economy, 109(2), 231–265. https://doi.org/10.1086/319554

52.

Mounk

(2018). Americans strongly dislike PC culture. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/large-majorities-dislike-political-correctness/572581/

53.

Pew Research Center. (2016). In “political correctness” debate, most Americans think too many people are easily offended. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/07/20/in-political-correctness-debate-most-americans-think-too-many-people-are-easily-offended/

54.

Pew Research Center. (2021). Political correctness and offensive speech. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2021/05/05/4-political-correctness-and-offensive-speech/

55.

Pinker

(2007). The stuff of thought: Language as a window into human nature. Viking.

56.

Potowski

(2015). Ethnolinguistic identities and ideologies among Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and “MexiRicans” in Chicago. In Reiter

R. M.

Rojo

L. M.

(Eds.), A sociolinguistics of diaspora: Latino practices, identities, and ideologies (pp. 13–30). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315883571-3

57.

Public Order Act (1986), c. 64 (UK). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64

58.

Ramaswamy

(2021). Woke, Inc.: Inside corporate America's social justice scam. Hachette UK.

59.

Reinard

J. C.

(2002). Persuasion in the legal setting. In Dillard

J. P.

Pfau

(Eds.), The persuasion handbook: Developments in theory and practice (pp. 543–604). Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412976046.n29

60.

Rivera

L. A.

Tilcsik

(2019). Scaling down inequality: Rating scales, gender bias, and the architecture of evaluation. American Sociological Review, 84(2), 248–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122419833601

61.

Rosenblum

Schroeder

Gino

(2020). Tell it like it is: When politically incorrect language promotes authenticity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 119(1), 75–103. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000206

62.

Saad

(2020). The parasitic mind: How infectious ideas are killing common sense. Simon and Schuster.

63.

Stelter

(2025). The White House bans the AP indefinitely over the use of “Gulf of Mexico”. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/media/white-house-ap-ban-air-force-one-oval-office-gulf-of-mexico/index.html

64.

Stryker

Currah

Moore

L. J.

(2008). Introduction: Trans-, trans, or transgender? Women’s Studies Quarterly, 36(3/4), 11–22. https://doi.org/10.1353/wsq.0.0112

65.

Van Bavel

J. J.

Pereira

(2018). The partisan brain: An identity-based model of political belief. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 22(3), 213–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2018.01.004

66.

Venables

W. N.

Ripley

B. D.

(2016). nnet: Feed-forward neural networks and multinomial log-linear models (Version 7.3-12) [R package]. https://cran.r-project.org/package=nnet

67.

Volkow

N. D.

Gordon

J. A.

Koob

G. F.

(2021). Choosing appropriate language to reduce the stigma around mental illness and substance use disorders. Neuropsychopharmacology, 46(13), 2230–2232. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-021-01069-4

68.

Watson

Clark

L. A.

Tellegen

(1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063

69.

Zaki

Ochsner

K. N.

(2012). The neuroscience of empathy: Progress, pitfalls and promise. Nature Neuroscience, 15(5), 675–680. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3085

70.

Zimbardo

P. G.

(2008). The Lucifer effect: Understanding how good people turn evil. Random House Trade Paperbacks.