The Role Of Psychological Inflexibility And Perspective Taking In Anti-Racism And Anti-Sexism

Racism and sexism are pervasive forms of discrimination that cause significant individual and societal burden. Understanding manipulable psychological processes that contribute to these modes of discrimination would aid in developing anti-prejudice interventions that target them. Psychological flexibility has been proposed as a potential tool in combating prejudice by modifying one's relationship with unwanted or automatic prejudicial thoughts, in addition to the ability to take the perspective of marginalized groups. A survey assessing psychological inflexibility and perspective taking along with anti-racist/anti-sexist attitudes and behaviors was administered to a sample of 395 undergraduate students. Perspective taking predicted anti-racist/anti-sexist behaviors above and beyond their corresponding attitudes. Psychological inflexibility was a not a significant predictor of relevant attitudes or behaviors. Our findings suggest that perspective taking may be an important target of anti-prejudice interventions.