Perceptions of women of color who claim compound discrimination: Interpersonal judgments and perceived credibility

Abstract

People of color who attribute rejection to racism and women who attribute rejection to sexism are perceived as troublemakers. Women of color may encounter racism and sexism simultaneously; however, it is unclear how compound discrimination claims are perceived. We examined interpersonal judgments of claimants and perceptions of the credibility of compound discrimination claims. In contrast to the double jeopardy perspective, which predicts that the consequences of multiple stigmas are cumulative, a Black woman (Study 1) was not perceived as a bigger troublemaker when she attributed rejection to compound discrimination versus either racism or sexism. Instead, racism and compound discrimination claims incurred similarly high interpersonal costs. Likewise, an Asian woman (Study 2) was not perceived as less credible when she attributed rejection to compound discrimination versus either racism or sexism. Instead, compound discrimination was the only discrimination attribution reliably judged as more credible and appropriate than baseline.