This study utilized the context of Hurricane Katrina to examine changes in justice beliefs. We suggest that racism claims being embedded within an emotionally involving context and covered by the mainstream media facilitated openness to the idea that the American social system is not entirely just. We hypothesized that exposure to images of the disaster and racism explanations would lead Whites who initially perceived the American social system as just to shift their beliefs. Furthermore, lower justice beliefs after exposure to disaster images would be associated with greater perceptions of similarity with victims and less preference for the racial ingroup. Results were consistent with these hypotheses. Thus, under some circumstances, disconfirming evidence can produce belief change.
Adams, G., Tormala, T.T., & O’Brien, L.T. (2006). The effect of self-affirmation on perception of racism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology ,42(5), 616-626.
2.
Aiken, L.S., & West, S.G. ( 1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions . Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications .
3.
Anderson, C.A., Lepper, M.R., & Ross, L. ( 1980). Perseverance of social theories: The role of explanation in the persistence of discredited information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(6), 1037-1049.
4.
Avdeyeva, T.V., Burgetova, K., & Welch, I.D. ( 2006). To help or not to help? Factors that determined helping responses to Katrina victims. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy,6, 159-173.
5.
Baron, R.M., & Kenny, D.A. ( 1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173-1182.
6.
Batson, C.D. ( 1991). The altruism question: Toward a social-psychological answer. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
7.
Batson, C.D., Chang, J., Orr, R., & Rowland, J. ( 2002). Empathy, attitudes and action: Can feeling for a member of a stigmatized group motivate one to help the group. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,28(12), 1656-1666.
8.
Batson, C.D., Polycarpou, M.P., Harmon-Jones, E., Imhoff, H.J., Mitchener, E.C., Bednar, L.L., et al. (1997). Empathy and attitudes: Can feeling for a member of a stigmatized group improve feelings toward the group? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,72(1), 105-118.
9.
Chaiken, S., Giner-Sorolla, R., & Chen, S. ( 1996). Beyond accuracy: Defense and impression motives in heuristic and systematic information processing. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh , (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 553-578). New York: Guilford Press.
10.
Chaiken, S., & Trope, Y. (Eds.). (1999). Dual-process theories in social psychology. New York: Guilford Press.
11.
Crocker, J., Luhtanen, R., Broadnax, S., & Blaine, B.E. ( 1999). Belief in U.S. government conspiracies against Blacks among Black and White college students: Powerlessness or system blame? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,25(8), 941-953.
12.
Czopp, A.M., & Monteith, M.J. (2003). Confronting prejudice (literally): Reactions to confrontations of racial and gender bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,29(4), 532-544.
13.
Fiske, S.T. ( 2004). Intent and ordinary bias: Unintended thought and social motivation create casual prejudice. Social Justice Research ,17(2), 117-127.
14.
Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., & Pyszczynski, T. (1997). Terror management theory of self-esteem and cultural worldviews: Empirical assessments and conceptual refinements. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, (Vol. 29, pp. 61-139). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
15.
Grunwald, M. ( 2007, August 13). The threatening storm. Time , 170(7), 28-39.
16.
Hornsey, M.J., Oppes, T., & Svensson, A. ( 2002). ‘It’s ok if we say it, but you can’t’: Responses to intergroup and intragroup criticism. European Journal of Social Psychology,32(3), 293-307.
17.
Huddy, L., & Feldman, S. ( 2006). Worlds apart: Blacks and Whites react to Hurricane Katrina . Du Bois Review,3(1), 97-113.
18.
Jarvis, B.G. ( 2006). MediaLab (Version 2006) [Computer software]. New York, NY: Empirisoft Corporation.
19.
Jost, J.T., & Banaji, M.R. ( 1994). The role of stereotyping in system-justification and the production of false consciousness. British Journal of Social Psychology, 33(1), 1-27.
20.
Jost, J.T., & Hunyady, O. ( 2002). The psychology of system justification and the palliative function of ideology. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone (Eds.), European review of social psychology (Vol. 13, pp. 111-153). Hove: Psychology Press/Taylor & Francis.
21.
Kaiser, C.R., Dyrenforth, P.S., & Hagiwara, N. ( 2006). Why are attributions to discrimination interpersonally costly? A test of system- and group-justifying motivations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(11), 1523-1536.
22.
Kaiser, C.R., Eccleston, C.P., & Hagiwara, N. ( 2008). Post-Hurricane Katrina racialized explanations as a system threat: Implications for Whites’ and Blacks’ racial attitudes . Social Justice Research,21(2), 192-203.
23.
Katz, I., & Hass, R.G. ( 1988). Racial ambivalence and American value conflict: Correlational and priming studies of dual cognitive structures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,55(6), 893-905.
24.
Kluegel, J.R., & Smith, E.R. ( 1986). Beliefs about inequality: Americans’ view of what is and what ought to be. Hawthorne, NJ: Aldine de Gruyter.
25.
Lang, A., Newhagen, J., & Reeves, B. ( 1996). Negative video as structure: Emotion, attention, capacity, and memory. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media ,40, 460-477.
26.
Lerner, M.J. (1980). The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York: Plenum Press.
27.
Levin, S., Sidanius, J., Rabinowitz, J.L., & Federico, C. ( 1998). Ethnic identity, legitimizing ideologies, and social status: A matter of ideological asymmetry. Political Psychology ,19(2), 373-404.
28.
Levy, S.R., Freitas, A.L., Mendoza-Denton, R., & Kugelmass, H. ( 2006). Hurricane Katrina’s impact on African Americans’ and European Americans’ endorsement of the Protestant Work Ethic.Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP),6(1), 75-85.
29.
Levy, S.R., West, T.L., & Ramirez, L. ( 2005). Lay theories and intergroup relations: A social-developmental perspective. European Review of Social Psychology, 16,189-220.
30.
Lord, C.G., Ross, L., & Lepper, M.R. ( 1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37(11), 2098-2109.
31.
Major, B., Gramzow, R.H., McCoy, S.K., Levin, S., Schmader, T., & Sidanius, J. ( 2002). Perceiving personal discrimination: The role of group status and legitimizing ideology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,82(3), 269-282.
32.
Major, B., Kaiser, C.R., O’Brien, L.T., & McCoy, S.K. (2007). Perceived discrimination as worldview threat or worldview confirmation: Implications for self-esteem .Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(6), 1068-1086.
33.
McGregor, I., & Marigold, D.C. (2003). Defensive zeal and the uncertain self: What makes you so sure? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,85(5), 838-852.
34.
McGregor, I., Zanna, M.P., Holmes, J.G., & Spencer, S.J. ( 2001). Compensatory conviction in the face of personal uncertainty: Going to extremes and being oneself. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(3), 472-488.
35.
Napier, J.L., Mandisodza, A.N., Andersen, S.M., & Jost, J.T. ( 2006). System justification in responding to the poor and displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy (ASAP),6(1), 57-73.
36.
Newcomb, T.M. ( 1943). Personality and social change: Attitude formation in a student community. New York: Dryden.
37.
O’Brien, L.T., Blodorn, A., Alsbrooks, A., Dube, R., Adams, G., Nelson, J.C. ( 2008). Understanding White Americans’ perceptions of racism in Hurricane Katrina-related events. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 12(4), 431-444.
38.
Petty, R.E., Fleming, M.A., Priester, J.R., & Feinstein, A.H. (2001). Individual versus group interest violation: Surprise as a determinant of argument scrutiny and persuasion . Social Cognition, 19(4), 418-442.
39.
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. ( 2005). Two-in-three critical of Bush’s relief efforts . Retrieved March 28, 2008, from http://peoplepress.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=255
40.
Plaut, V.C., Markus, H.R., & Lachman, M.E. ( 2002). Place matters: Consensual features and regional variation in American well-being and self.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,83(1), 160-184.
41.
Preacher, K.J., & Hayes, A.F. ( 2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods,40(3), 879-891.
42.
Pyszczynski, T., Greenberg, J., Solomon, S., Sideris, J., & Stubing, M.J. ( 1993). Emotional expression and the reduction of motivated cognitive bias: Evidence from cognitive dissonance and distancing from victims’ paradigms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,64(2), 177-186.
43.
Simpson, D. ( 2005). Jackson blasts Bush over Katrina aid. Retrieved on March 28, 2008, from http://www. breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8CCAOI81&show_ article=1
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J.C. ( 1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), The psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7-24). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.
46.
Williams, L.E., & Bargh, J.A. ( 2008). Keeping one’s distance: The influence of spatial distance cues on affect and evaluation. Psychological Science ,19(3), 302-308.
