Hypocrisy Induction to Alter Selection Decisions among Aversive Racists: Analyzing the Role of External Motivation to Respond without Prejudice

Abstract

The present study will examine the effects of hypocrisy induction on selection decisions for two populations: Aversive Racists and truly non-prejudiced individuals. Aversive Racists are operationally defined as individuals who are low in explicit prejudice and high in implicit prejudice, whereas truly non-prejudiced individuals are defined as being low in both explicit and implicit prejudice. These two groups of people will differ on their ratings of job applicants, so that Aversive Racists will rate Black applicants lower than White applicants (with comparable job credentials) while truly non-prejudiced individuals will rate them similarly. The induction of hypocrisy will serve as a manipulation that reverses Aversive Racists ratings of job applicants; Black applicants will now be rated higher than White applicants with similar job credentials. External motivation to respond without prejudice will moderate these effects in the expected direction