Previous research has demonstrated that when White allies confront racist comments, it reduces future prejudicial behavior in perpetrators, establishes egalitarian norms, and has positive effects for confronters. The current studies sought to examine whether the delivery of the confrontation affects perceptions of these allies. Three studies examined whether emotional expression (angry vs. control, Study 1), response type (direct vs. indirect, Study 2), and the interaction of these factors (Study 3) affected perceptions of White allies. Participants (N = 740) evaluated a White person in a vignette who confronted a racist comment. Results indicated that confronters who expressed anger were viewed more negatively than those who did not, due to perceptions that they were motivated to make the perpetrator look bad. Direct responses also elicited more positive perceptions of the confronter than indirect responses. These results may inform educational strategies that encourage allies to confront racist remarks.
AugusteE. E.CruiseK. R.JimenezM. C. (2021). The effects of microaggressions on depression in young adults of color: Investigating the impact of traumatic event exposures and trauma reactions. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 34(5), 985–994. https://doi.org/10.1002/jts.22675
3.
BeckerJ. C.BarretoM. (2014). Ways to go: Men’s and women’s support for aggressive and nonaggressive confrontation of sexism as a function of gender identification. Journal of Social Issues, 70(4), 668–686. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12085
4.
BeckerJ. C.SwimJ. K. (2011). Seeing the unseen: Attention to daily encounters with sexism as a way to reduce sexist beliefs. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35(2), 227–242. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684310397509
5.
BlanchardF. A.CrandallC. S.BrighamJ. C.VaughnL. A. (1994). Condemning and condoning racism: A social context approach to interracial settings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(6), 993–997. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.79.6.993
6.
CarrP. B.DweckC. S.PaukerK. (2012). “Prejudiced” behavior without prejudice? Beliefs about the malleability of prejudice affect interracial interactions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(3), 452–471. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028849
7.
ChaneyK. E.SanchezD. T. (2018). The endurance of interpersonal confrontations as a prejudice reduction strategy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(3), 418–429. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167217741344
8.
ChaneyK. E.YoungD. M.SanchezD. T. (2015). Confrontation’s health outcomes and promotion of egalitarianism (C-HOPE) framework. Translational Issues in Psychological Science, 1(4), 363–371. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/tps0000042
9.
ChenA.YanL.YoonM. Y. (2025). What happens after anti-Asian racism at work? A moral exclusion perspective on coworker confrontation and mechanisms. Journal of Applied Psychology, 110(3), 432–443. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001242
10.
CooperH.PatallE. A. (2009). The relative benefits of meta-analysis conducted with individual participant data versus aggregated data. Psychological Methods, 14(2), 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015565
11.
CurranP. J.HussongA. M. (2009). Integrative data analysis: The simultaneous analysis of multiple data sets. Psychological Methods, 14(2), 81–100. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015914
12.
CzoppA. M.MonteithM. J. (2003). Confronting prejudice (literally): Reactions to confrontations of racial and gender bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(4), 532–544. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167202250923
13.
CzoppA. M.MonteithM. J.MarkA. Y. (2006). Standing up for a change: Reducing bias through interpersonal confrontation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(5), 784–803. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.784
14.
De VosB.van ZomerenM.GordijnE. H.PostmesT. (2013). The communication of “pure” group-based anger reduces tendencies toward intergroup conflict because it increases out-group empathy. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(8), 1043–1052. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213489140
DickterC. L.KittelJ. A.GyurovskiI. I. (2012). Perceptions of non-target confronters in response to racist and heterosexist remarks. European Journal of Social Psychology, 42(1), 112–119. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.855
17.
DickterC. L.NewtonV. A. (2013). To confront or not to confront: Non-targets’ evaluations of and responses to racist comments. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(S2), E262–E275. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12022
18.
EssesV. M.HaddockG.ZannaM. P. (1993). Values, stereotypes, and emotions as determinants of intergroup attitudes. In MackieD. M.HamiltonD. L. (Eds.), Affect, cognition and stereotyping (pp. 137–166). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-08-088579-7.50011-9
19.
FarberR.WedellE.HerchenroederL.DickterC. L.PearsonM. R.BravoA. J. (2021). Microaggressions and psychological health among college students: A moderated mediation model of rumination and social structure beliefs. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, 8(1), 245–255. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-020-00778-8
20.
FazioR. H.HildenL. E. (2001). Emotional reactions to a seemingly prejudiced response: The role of automatically activated racial attitudes and motivation to control prejudiced reactions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(5), 538–549. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167201275003
21.
FirminR. L.MaoS.BellamyC. D.DavidsonL. (2019). Peer support specialists’ experiences of microaggressions. Psychological Services, 16(3), 456–462. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000297
22.
GulkerJ. E.MarkA. Y.MonteithM. J. (2013). Confronting prejudice: The who, what, and why of confrontation effectiveness. Social Influence, 8(4), 280–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/15534510.2012.736879
23.
HansenN.SassenbergK. (2006). Does social identification harm or serve as a buffer? The impact of social identification on anger after experiencing social discrimination. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32(7), 983–996.
24.
HayesA. F. (2022). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (Vol. 3). The Guilford Press.
25.
HillebrandtA.BarclayL. J. (2017). Comparing integral and incidental emotions: Testing insights from emotions as social information theory and attribution theory. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(5), 732–752. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000174
26.
KayA. C.DayM. V.ZannaM. P.NussbaumA. D. (2013). The insidious (and ironic) effects of positive stereotypes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(2), 287–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2012.11.003
27.
LettD. F.WrightJ. V. (2003). Psychological barriers associated with matriculation of African American students in predominantly White institutions. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 30(3), 189–196.
28.
MallettR. K.WagnerD. E. (2011). The unexpectedly positive consequences of confronting sexism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47(1), 215–220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.10.001
29.
MarshburnC. K.FolbergA. M.CrittleC.MaddoxK. B. (2021). Racial bias confrontation in the United States: What (if anything) has changed in the COVID-19 era, and where do we go from here?Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 24(2), 260–269. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220981417
30.
MartinezL. R.HeblM. R.SmithN. A.SabatI. E. (2017). Standing up and speaking out against prejudice toward gay men in the workplace. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 103(A), 71–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2017.08.001
31.
MeyersC.LeonA.WilliamsA. (2020). Aggressive confrontation shapes perceptions and attitudes toward racist content online. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 23(6), 845–862. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220935974
32.
PitcanM.Park-TaylorJ.HayslettJ. (2018). Black men and racial microaggressions at work. The Career Development Quarterly, 66(4), 300–314. https://doi.org/10.1002/cdq.12152
33.
RasinskiH. M.CzoppA. M. (2010). The effect of target status on witnesses’ reactions to confrontations of bias. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 32(1), 8–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973530903539754
34.
RattanA.DweckC. S. (2010). Who confronts prejudice? The role of implicit theories in the motivation to confront prejudice. Psychological Science, 21(7), 952–959.
35.
SarsarE. D.ZeidersK. H.LandorA. M.BrownA. M. (2023). The role of racial microaggressions and ethnic racial identity affirmation on sense of belonging among Black and Latinx college students. Emerging Adulthood, 11(6), 1394–1408. https://doi.org/10.1177/21676968231194378
36.
SheltonJ. N.RichesonJ. A.SalvatoreJ.HillD. M. (2006). Silence is not golden: The intrapersonal consequences of not confronting prejudice. In LevinS.van LaarC. (Eds.), Stigma and group inequality (pp. 79–96). Psychology Press.
37.
SueD. W.CapodilupoC. M.TorinoG. C.BucceriJ. M.HolderA. M. B.NadalK. L.EsquilinM. (2007). Racial microaggressions in everyday life: Implications for clinical practice. American Psychologist, 62(4), 271–286. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.62.4.271
38.
WarrenM. A.SekhonT.WinkelmanK. M.WaldropR. J. (2022). Should I “check my emotions at the door” or express how I feel? Role of emotion regulation versus expression of male leaders speaking out against sexism in the workplace. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 52(7), 547–558. https://doi.org/10.1111/jasp.12878
39.
WesselJ. L.LemayE. P.JrBarthS. E. (2023). You (r behaviors) are racist: Responses to prejudice confrontations depend on confrontation focus. Journal of Business and Psychology, 38(1), 109–134.
40.
WilliamsM. T. (2021). Racial microaggressions: Critical questions, state of the science, and new directions. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(5), 880–885. https://doi.org/10.1177/17456916211039209
41.
WoodsF. A.RuscherJ. B. (2021). “Calling-out” vs. “calling-in” prejudice: Confrontation style affects inferred motive and expected outcomes. British Journal of Social Psychology, 60(1), 50–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12405
42.
WoodzickaJ. A.GoodJ. J. (2021). Strategic confrontation: Examining the utility of low stakes prodding as a strategy for confronting sexism. The Journal of Social Psychology, 161(3), 316–330. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2020.1829529
43.
ZapolskiT. C.RoweA. T.CliftonR. L.KhazvandS.CrichlowQ. J.FaidleyM. (2023). Examining the unique and additive effect of trauma and racial microaggressions on substance use risk among Black young adults. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 29(3), 289–301. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/cdp0000480
44.
ZouL. X.DickterC. L. (2013). Perceptions of racial confrontation: The role of color blindness and comment ambiguity. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 19(1), 92–96. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0031115
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
