“I thought I was appreciating”: The role of perpetrator intentions in perceptions of cultural appropriation

The role of perpetrator intentions in moral judgment is well established, but it is not well understood in the intergroup context of cultural appropriation. In three high-powered, pre-registered studies (total N = 2,769), we provide robust evidence that perceivers evaluate cultural copying less negatively when the actor has positive (versus negative) intentions. Across three different domains (fashion, food, and business), participants judged that White perpetrators who copied Black culture attempting to show appreciation were less appropriative, showed less disrespect, caused less harm, and warranted less confrontation (Studies 1–3) and boycotting (Study 3) than White perpetrators who copied for self-promotion. White individuals generally perceived less appropriation than Black individuals and evaluated it more permissively across dimensions, although both were similarly sensitive to intent (Studies 1–2). We contribute to the literatures on moral judgment and intergroup relations by laying empirical groundwork on cultural appropriation, an understudied phenomenon that unites the two.