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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: Two studies investigate how Black people's empathy toward Black/White Biracial people experiencing racial discrimination relates to Black/White Biracial people's identification in the United States.
METHOD: Study 1 (N = 151, M(age) = 36.3 years, SD = 11.1, 57% female) examines how Black people's perceptions of whether Black/White Biracial people identify as Black at a group level are related to empathy toward them through correlational methods. In Study 2 (N = 590; M(age) = 32.3 years, SD = 11.4, 71% women), we experimentally manipulate Black/White Biracial people's racial identity through vignettes and assess Black participants' perceived similarity, racial identification of the Black/White Biracial target as Black, linked fate, and empathy. We tested Black participants' empathy toward a Black/White Biracial target who self-identified as Black, self-identified as White, or self-identified as Biracial, consistent with common identification patterns among Biracial people.
RESULTS: Black participants empathized least with Black/White Biracial people who were perceived as identifying as White, or who explicitly self-identified as White. This association was mediated by perceptions that Black/White Biracial and Black people's fates are linked. Overall, Black people were most likely to empathize with Black/White Biracial people identifying as Black.
CONCLUSIONS: For liminal group members, identification confers information regarding similarity, shared identity, and linked fate that relate to procuring empathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Language: en |