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Category: Project

Description: This experiment studied the impact of diversity training methods and political correctness opinions on participants perception of microaggressions. It was hypothesized that (a) those with a positive political correctness opinion would be more aware of microaggressions after diversity training than those with a negative political correctness opinion, (b) the perspective-taking training group would be more effective than the prescriptive training group, and (c) those with a negative political correctness opinion in the prescriptive training condition would have a backfire response in which their awareness of microaggressions would decrease. Using a 2 x 2 design, participants completed a questionnaire assessing their opinion of political correctness and were then randomly assigned to one of the diversity training conditions. All participants analyzed a series of comics depicting microaggressions and ranked their offensiveness on a 5-point Likert scale, both before and after training, to measure their change in perception. Results found no significant difference for opinion of political correctness, F (2, 54) = 0.11, p = .900, ηp² = .004. A significant opposite result was found for diversity training method, F (1, 54) = 10.03, p = .002, ηp² = .150, with a greater change in perception for those in prescriptive group as compared to those in the perspective-taking group. Additionally, no backfire response was detected among those with a negative political correctness opinion in the prescriptive condition. Findings suggest that exposure to diverse perspectives is important for changes in microaggression perception to occur.