Refocusing The Conceptualization of The Colorblind Ideology: Implications For Hiring Bias In Ethnicity-Salient and Nationality-Salient Contexts

Authors:

Abstract: People’s belief that society should ignore (or acknowledge) group differences is viewed as one of the most important predictors of intergroup outcomes. However, recent meta-analyses uncovered inconsistent associations between colorblindness and bias. One explanation for these inconsistent findings is construct conflation: the conceptualization and measurement of colorblindness includes not only the core tenet (i.e., ignoring group differences), but also non-core beliefs (e.g., shared humanity beliefs: that all humans share some underlying features). Study 1 found that shared humanity beliefs and colorblindness reflected distinct constructs. We validated measures of colorblindness and multiculturalism (Study 2) conceptualizing each according to its core tenet and leaving out non-core beliefs. Using refocused measures, we tested the implications of colorblindness, multiculturalism, and shared humanity across three diversity contexts: hiring bias in ethnicity-salient and nationality-salient contexts, and attitudes toward non-economic immigrants. Study 3 found that our new measure of colorblindness, but not existing measures, predicted hiring bias in an ethnicity-salient context. Study 4 (pre-registered) found that, compared to multiculturalism, people view colorblindness as more applicable to ethnicity-salient contexts than nationality-salient contexts. Building on this, Study 5 found that our new measure of multiculturalism, but not existing measures, predicted hiring bias in nationality-salient contexts (Study 5). Extending our findings to non-economic minorities, Study 6 (pre-registered) found that multiculturalism and shared humanity beliefs predicted positive attitudes toward refugees, and identified different underlying mechanisms. The present work addresses surfacing concerns that conceptualizations of colorblindness are highly multifaceted and widely debated, presenting a roadblock to understanding its implications for intergroup outcomes.

Track: DEI

Keywords: colorblindness; diversity ideologies; multiculturalism; ethnicity; race; culture; refugee