Relatively little is known about the extent to which multiracial people stand in solidarity with their parent groups. Here, we draw from social identity theory to examine predictors of Asian-White multiracial people’s solidarity with Asian and White people, Asian monoracial people’s meta-perceptions of these solidarity levels, and consequences of these meta-perceptions for intergroup relations. Studies 1a–b show that Asian-White multiracial people stand in solidarity more strongly with Asian people than White people, especially when they perceive high levels of anti-Asian discrimination, and even when they believe they physically look White. Studies 2a–b demonstrate that Asian monoracial people incorrectly believe that physically White-looking Asian-White multiracial people stand in solidarity more strongly with White people, and these pessimistic meta-perceptions are associated with more rejection of multiracial people. Study 3 provides a causal link between meta-perceptions and rejection while providing preliminary evidence that correcting these solidarity meta-perceptions can improve intergroup attitudes.

We tested whether merely witnessing gendered microaggressions affects group work experiences among male and female undergraduate computer science and engineering students. Across three experiments (N = 753), we randomly assigned computer science and engineering students to witness microaggressions targeting female students, or control interactions, using a video manipulation. Witnessing microaggressions—compared to the control—resulted in heightened gender-specific stereotyping concerns, with women being concerned about appearing incompetent and men being concerned with appearing sexist. For both women and men, witnessing microaggressions resulted in decreased enthusiasm for participating in group work. Moreover, for women, the relationship between decreased enthusiasm and witnessing microaggressions was partially mediated by increased concerns about being stereotyped as incompetent. Across the experiments, mixed results emerged regarding the effect of witnessing microaggressions on the recall of engineering content in the video. This research extends previous work focused on personally experiencing microaggressions to merely witnessing them, showing that positivity toward anticipated group work is diminished for both women and men when they see peers engaging in microaggressions.

Adolescence marks an important period for developing ideological orientations toward intergroup inequality, and for racially marginalized youth, this can have implications for how they perceive their own social standing. Accordingly, we aimed to assess how two prominent intergroup belief systems, critical consciousness (i.e., critical analysis of and motivation to challenge social inequality) and social dominance orientation (SDO; i.e., preference for intergroup hierarchy), associate with one another over time among racially marginalized adolescents. Additionally, we examine how enrollment in ethnic studies courses, designed to promote critical consciousness, influences the developmental trajectories of these two intergroup ideologies compared to unenrolled students. We surveyed ninth-grade students of color three times over the academic year on their endorsement of critical consciousness and SDO. A total of 459 students completed the survey at Wave 1 (M_age = 13.9 years, 52% identified as girls, 64% identified as Latinx). Analyses from random-intercept cross-lagged panel models revealed that critical consciousness negatively predicted later levels of SDO among students enrolled in ethnic studies, whereas SDO tended to negatively predict later levels of critical consciousness among nonenrolled students. These findings highlight malleability in adolescents' ideological reasoning about intergroup inequality, specifically that the development of critical consciousness may temper SDO in consciousness-raising environments; however, in the absence of these environments, endorsement of SDO may undermine the development of critical consciousness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

Across two studies, we examined intergroup relations between Black-White multiracial and Black monoracial people in the U.S. Study 1 showed that Black-White multiracial participants reported more solidarity with Black than White people, but less solidarity with Black people than Black participants reported. Likewise, their race-relevant political attitudes were somewhat more aligned with Black than White participants, but not completely aligned with Black participants. Reflecting this pattern, Black participants perceived that Black-White multiracial people feel more solidarity with Black than White people, but less solidarity with Black people than they themselves feel. Solidarity perceptions were consequential. Both Study 1 (correlational) and Study 2 (experimental) showed that Black participants’ perceptions of Black-White multiracial people’s solidarity with Black people were related to their inclusion of multiracial people. Furthermore, contingent on high levels of solidarity with Black people, multiracial people’s relationships with White people were less consequential for Black participants’ inclusion of them.

Past research on collective action focuses on how identification with a marginalized group or with a politicized identity motivates collective action. We propose that egalitarian ideology —a preference for group-based equality and opposition to hierarchy—can help explain why both marginalized and dominant group members can be motivated to engage in system-challenging collective action. In Studies 1A–1C, among Black, Asian, and White Americans, egalitarianism was related to supporting collective action to advocate for racial equality. In Study 2, the egalitarianism–collective action relationship persisted among White participants when it was salient that their group would lose advantages from reducing racial inequality, and even among those relatively higher in White identification. Thus, egalitarianism helps explain why individuals engage in system-challenging collective action, regardless of whether their racial group benefits, and even when their racial group stands to lose.

People stereotype women to be less skilled and competent in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) than men [Nosek, B. A., Smyth, F. L., Sriram, N., Lindner, N. M., Devos, T., Ayala, A., Bar-Anan, Y., Bergh, R., Cai, H., Gonsalkorale, K., & Kesebir, S. (2009). National differences in gender-science stereotypes predict national sex differences in science and math achievement. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 106(26), 10593-10597]. These stereotypic beliefs can leak out in words and behaviors as microaggressions-defined as brief everyday verbal, behavioral, or environmental slights directed toward someone due to their social category [Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender, and sexual orientation. John Wiley & Sons].-and can be a hindrance to women's persistence and inclusion in STEM fields. In the current research we utilized a mixed methods approach to document the content and presence of microaggressions in undergraduate engineering group work settings among women and men. In Study 1, focus groups with women and men engineering students (N = 43) revealed that women reported experiencing microaggressions in the form of assumptions of inferiority or behaviors suggesting that they possess inferior STEM skills and competence. In Study 2, we developed a behavioral coding rubric to document the presence of assumptions of inferiority among women and men students (N = 260) in engineering teams as judged by trained independent observers. In Study 2 observations revealed that more women were the target of assumptions of inferiority than men, corroborating self-report findings. Moreover, although our studies focused on gender-based microaggressions, Study 2 observational coding revealed People of Color were the targets of assumptions of inferiority more than White people. Results complement prior self-report data and indicate that diversity and inclusion efforts should focus on reducing the presence of microaggressions in peer STEM contexts.