Prejudice Toward Blacks: With and Without Compunction?

Previous work has shown that only individuals with low prejudiced (LP) attitudes toward gay men experience compunction (e.g., guilt, self-criticism) when they respond with a greater degree of prejudice than is allowed by their own personal standards. Those high in prejudice (HP) toward gay men do not experience much compunction (e.g., Devine, Monteith, Zuwerink, & Elliot, 1991). The generalizability of these findings to the domain of prejudice toward Blacks was examined in our research. Despite differences in the nature of prejudice toward gay men and Blacks, the results of two studies closely replicated previous findings. Specifically, LP individuals reported low prejudice and well-internalized personal standards for responding to Blacks, and violations of those standards resulted in feelings of compunction. In comparison, HP individuals reported more prejudice and less well-internalized standards that were not associated with strong compunction when violated. Implications for prejudice reduction are discussed.