Nontarget allies (e.g., Whites against racism) play an important role in
antibias efforts. Not only can allies be uniquely effective in social
justice efforts (e.g., Czopp & Monteith, 2003), some argue that both target
and nontarget ally participation is necessary for effective collective
action (Drury & Kaiser, 2014). Despite this, little research has addressed
the types of behaviors allies engage in, what behaviors target group
members desire, and what factors impact targets’ ally desires. While allies
may be well intentioned, allies’ behaviors may differ from what targets’
desire (e.g., Rattan & Ambady, 2014). A contributing factor to this may be
perceptions of ally motives and perceptions of ally sincerity (Major,
Sawyer, & Kuntsman, 2013).
Across 3 studies, the present research investigated perceptions of ally
behaviors, from the perspective of both White allies’ willingness to engage
in ally behaviors and Black participants’ ally behavior desires.
Critically, the we explored the moderating role of Blacks’ suspicion of
Whites’ motives on perceptions of ally sincerity and ally behaviors.