Examining Students' Color-Blind Racial Ideology, Emotion Regulation, and Reconciliation of Stigmatizing Thoughts About Race

• In Event: 45.095 - Sheraton Roundtable Seven - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 45.095-6 - Using the Lenses of Race and Emotion in Understanding Motivation

Abstract

There is limited research examining the relationship between racial ideology and emotion regulation. In this study, we examined the relationship between 165 college students' color-blind racial attitudes, emotion regulation strategies, and stigmatizing thoughts about race (psychological flexibility and inflexibility). Results indicated a strong relationship between color-blind racial ideology and psychological inflexibility with stigmatizing thoughts. In addition, students' psychological inflexibility scores were statistically significantly related with emotional regulation suppression strategies. Findings indicate that psychological flexibility is critical to increasing regulating emotions around race.

Authors

• Jessica T. Decuir-Gunby, North Carolina State University

• Elizabeth Marie Allen, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Janet Kim Boone, North Carolina State University