An Individual Difference Measure of Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions

Abstract

The present research examines the assertion that individuals differ in the extent to which they seek to control the expression of prejudice. The authors developed the Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions Scale to assess this individual difference. Psychometric properties of the scale are reported, including its stable two-factor structure across samples. In addition, evidence regarding predictive validity is presented. The expression of racial prejudice on self-report measures was moderated by the extent to which respondents reported being motivated to inhibit prejudiced reactions. Specifically, the authors observed interactions between unobtrusive estimates of racial attitudes based on automatic attitude activation and scores on the Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions Scale when predicting self-reported evaluations. Motivated individuals expressed less prejudiced responses even if their unobtrusive estimates revealed automatically activated negativity in response to Blacks. In contrast, the less motivated provided self-reports consistent with their automatically activated attitudes.