Date of Award

1-1-2014

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology

Program

Counseling Psychology

Content Description

1 online resource (x, 122 pages) : illustrations (some color)

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

LaRae M Jome

Committee Members

Michael V Ellis, Hazel M Prelow

Keywords

Colorblind, Intergroup Anxiety, Multicultural, Psychological Flexibility, Racial Attitudes, Post-racialism, Minorities, Race awareness, Racism, Whites, Race relations

Subject Categories

Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education | Psychology | Social Psychology

Abstract

Colorblind racial attitudes are described as the denial or minimization of race and racism (Neville et al., 2000), which may silence accounts of racial discrimination and lead White Americans to ignore their racial privileges, ultimately supporting and reproducing racial inequality in the US (Bonilla-Silva, 2001). Alarmingly, colorblind attitudes are the dominant racial ideology among White Americans (Lewis, 2004), and inform the way White adults talk to their children about race (Schofeild, 2007). The current study explored the development and maintenance of Whites' colorblind attitudes, using ideas from Stephan and Stephan's (1985) theory of intergroup anxiety, Helm's (1995) theory of White racial identity, and concepts underlying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes et al., 2006). Informed by these theories, the study examined the roles of interracial anxiety and psychological flexibility in Whites' colorblind racial attitudes.

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