Egalitarianism, Moral Obligation, and Prejudice-Related Personal Standards

Many high-prejudice individuals' personal standards suggest that they should be less prejudiced toward Blacks than they actually are. The present research revealed that these standards are derived from a sense of personal moral obligation to temper prejudice rather than from pressure from other...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality & social psychology bulletin 1998-02, Vol.24 (2), p.186-199
Main Authors: Monteith, Margo J., Walters, Gina L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Equality
Factors
Morality
Personal characteristics
Personality
Prejudice
Prejudices
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Racial prejudice
Racism
Social psychology
USA
White people
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Summary:Many high-prejudice individuals' personal standards suggest that they should be less prejudiced toward Blacks than they actually are. The present research revealed that these standards are derived from a sense of personal moral obligation to temper prejudice rather than from pressure from others to moderate prejudice. The authors also investigated the influence of egalitarian values on feelings of moral obligation and, ultimately, on personal standards. Although participants viewed themselves as highly egalitarian, they differed in how they conceptualized the meaning of egalitarianism. Path analysis results were consistent with the notion that high-prejudice individuals who defined egalitarian in terms of equality of opportunity feel morally obligated to temper their prejudice, which, in turn, is associated with establishing relatively low-prejudice personal standards for responding to Blacks.
ISSN:0146-1672
1552-7433
DOI:10.1177/0146167298242007