Confronting stereotypic biases: Does internal versus external motivational framing matter?

Abstract

We investigated whether confrontations of intergroup bias that had an external (e.g., emphasizing social norms) versus internal (e.g., emphasizing values) motivational framing differentially reduced subsequent stereotyping. Internally and externally framed confrontations reduced stereotyping equally compared to a control condition, both immediately (Experiments 1 and 2) and across a 2- to 3-day delay (Experiment 1). Only weak evidence was found for a “matching hypothesis” when participants own chronic internal and external motivations to respond without prejudice were assessed. Confrontation framing did not interact with chronic motivations to affect stereotyping in Experiment 2. In Experiment 3, participants highly internally motivated to respond without bias reduced bias most with an internally framed confrontation, whereas participants who were not motivated for internal reasons reduced bias most with an externally framed confrontation. Finally, whereas both motivational framings reduced stereotyping, simply pointing bias out did not. Thus, providing some motivational framing is important for confrontation effectiveness.