Asymmetries in felt understanding: An intersectional analysis of cross-race and cross-gender interactions

Abstract: People have a basic need to feel understood. We examine whether the fulfilment of this need is equitably distributed across interaction partners with different gender and racial identities. Using ecological momentary assessment (52,560 observations collected from 744 participants over one month), we hypothesized that marginalized individuals (i.e., women and people of color) would feel less understood by advantaged interaction partners (i.e., men and White people) than vice versa. Planned contrasts indicated no gender asymmetries, contrary to what we hypothesized. However, we found support for the hypothesized race-based and intersectional asymmetries: people of color felt less understood by White people than White people felt by people of color, and women of color felt less understood by White men than White men felt by women of color. Feeling understood did not predict future cross-group contact. Results highlight the importance of dyadic and intersectional approaches to studying social interactions.

Keywords: Intergroup contact, intersectionality, felt understanding