Salient Multiculturalism Enhances Minority Group Members' Feelings of Power

Multiculturalism and Colorblindness as Threats to the Self: A Framework for Understanding Dominant and Non-Dominant Group Members' Responses to Interethnic Ideologies

Both multiculturalism (which involves recognizing and appreciating differences) and racial/ethnic colorblindness (which can involve emphasizing similarities or individual characteristics) are intended to promote intergroup harmony. Nevertheless, these ideologies can backfire when salient. Although this work has sometimes been interpreted to suggest that dominant group members may perceive salient multiculturalism, and non-dominant group members may perceive salient colorblindness, as threatening, it is unclear what about these interethnic ideologies poses a threat and why. The present article draws upon theories of the self-concept to introduce a framework of Multiculturalism and Colorblindness as Threats to the Self. Specifically, it is proposed that multiculturalism (colorblindness) is potentially threatening to dominant (non-dominant) group members' collective, relational, and personal selves. Dispositional and contextual variables that may moderate perceptions of threat among members of dominant and non-dominant groups, alternative interethnic ideologies to multiculturalism and colorblindness, and potential future research directions are discussed.

Power and Persuasion: Processes by Which Perceived Power Can Influence Evaluative Judgments

The present review focuses on how power—as a perception regarding the self, the source of the message, or the message itself—affects persuasion. Contemporary findings suggest that perceived power can increase or decrease persuasion depending on the circumstances and thus might result in both short-term and long-term consequences for behavior. Given that perceptions of power can produce different, and even opposite, effects on persuasion, it might seem that any relationship is possible and thus prediction is elusive or impossible. In contrast, the present review provides a unified perspective to understand and organize the psychological literature on the relationship between perceived power and persuasion. To accomplish this objective, present review identifies distinct mechanisms by which perceptions of power can influence persuasion and discusses when these mechanisms are likely to operate. In doing so, this article provides a structured approach for studying power and persuasion via antecedents, consequences, underlying psychological processes, and moderators. Finally, the article also discusses how power can affect evaluative judgments more broadly.

Ideology and Voice

What situational forces might enhance ethnic minority group members’ voice and ability to exert social influence during exchanges with dominant group members? Two experiments involving face-to-face dyadic intergroup interaction examined whether making multiculturalism salient to minority group members would increase the extent to which they persuaded a dominant interaction partner of their own point of view on a series of controversial social issues. Results were consistent with this hypothesis and further indicated that minority group members expressed their own point of view more clearly and directly when multicultural ideology was made salient to them as compared to when it was not, which contributed (marginally) to their heightened persuasiveness. Salient multiculturalism did not have comparable effects on dominant group members’ persuasiveness or clarity of expression. These results raise the possibility that making multicultural ideology salient might set the stage for minority group members to have a stronger voice in intergroup exchanges.