Reducing microaggressions and promoting interracial connection: The racial harmony workshop

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Highlights

  • We designed the Racial Harmony Workshop (RHW) based on FAP and ACT principles.

  • The RHW aims to reduce microaggressions and increase interracial connection.

  • White students in the RHW showed decreased likelihood of microaggressive thoughts.

  • They also developed more positive feelings towards Black people than controls.

  • Black students in both conditions reported stronger ethnic identity a month later.

Abstract

Research has demonstrated a connection between microaggressions and decreased mental health across racial and ethnic groups. Microaggressions on college campuses can have a negative impact on students of color, which has led to a push for more microaggression-focused diversity trainings on college campuses. However, no training thus far has demonstrated efficacy in reducing participants’ propensity to commit microaggressions. We reported an intervention, the Racial Harmony Workshop (RHW), to reduce racial biases and microaggressions and promote interracial connection among college students. The RHW was designed to increase connectedness across racial groups, using principles and techniques from Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The study was conducted with Black and White undergraduate students (N = 44) randomly assigned to an active control group or the RHW. Participants were given pre-test, post-test, and follow-up batteries to assess inter-group feelings and racial attitudes. Results indicated positive benefits for both Black and White participants, including improved mood and increased positive feelings towards Black people for the White students, as well as increased ethnic identity for the Black students. White students in both conditions showed a decreased likelihood of committing microaggressions, and those in the RHW condition also showed a decreased likelihood of having microaggressive thoughts and increased gains over time. Overall, the results suggest there are several benefits to the RHW, and further research is warranted to build upon these findings.

Introduction

Racial conflict at universities has been a focus of academic concern and media attention (Bauman, 2018; Berner, 2015). Racial conflict not only creates an adverse environment for all students, but also creates additional educational barriers for students of color who have been historically marginalized in academic settings (Smith et al., 2007, Williams, 2019). Interracial interactions with students who engage in frequent but subtle acts of racism, such as colorblind denial of racial issues, can be cognitively depleting for students of color, with direct effects on academic performance (Holoien & Shelton, 2012; Murphy, Richeson, Shelton, Rheinschmidt, & Bergsieker, 2013). When students of color are continually subjected to negative stereotypes from others, stereotype threat (i.e., the fear of confirming stereotypes about one's group; Steele & Aronson, 1995) can develop, which also disrupts performance and may lead students to disidentify with academics altogether (McClain & Cokley, 2017). Additionally, students who experience racial discrimination may develop symptoms of mental distress, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol use (Cheng and Mallinckrodt, 2015, Williams, Printz, Ching, & Wetterneck, 2018). Collectively, these issues can contribute to the relatively high drop-out rates and reduced achievement of Black students on college campuses.

On the other hand, several factors can help students of color navigate this difficult terrain. Nasim, Robert, Harrell, and Young (2005) found that the skill of being able to understand and cope with racism was one of the most reliable psychosocial predictors of academic achievement among African American students. In addition, multiple studies document that a positive and strong ethnic and racial identity protects people of color from some of the psychological distress commonly experienced after exposure to racial discrimination (Sellers, Copeland-Linder, Martin, & Lewis, 2006; Sellers & Shelton, 2003; Williams, Chapman, Wong, & Turkheimer, 2012). Having a positive and strong ethnic identity buffers African American students against lower school achievement, poorer academic self-concept, and problem behaviors due to racial discrimination (Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003). Therefore, efforts to improve student interactions should focus on decreasing colorblindness and other expressions of racial bias among White students, while educating all students about racism, and bolstering ethnic identity in students of color.

Racial microaggressions are a particularly common and pernicious expression of bias that include slights and insults directed toward racial and ethnic minorities (Pierce, 1970, Sue et al., 2007). These range from insults that students receive so often they have habituated to them (e.g., “Is your hair real?“), to insults that shock and upset them for prolonged periods (e.g., being told Black people are intellectually inferior; Kanter et al., 2017; Solórzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000). Research on marginalized racial and ethnic groups suggests that experiences of microaggressions are common and associated with numerous negative mental health outcomes, including depression and negative affect (Nadal, Griffin, Wong, Hamit, & Rasmus, 2014); anxiety, stress, and trauma symptoms (Williams, Kanter, & Ching, 2018); low self-esteem (Nadal et al., 2014); and risk of suicide (O'Keefe et al., 2015). Microaggressions have also been found to negatively impact physical health (e.g., Clark, Anderson, Clark, & Williams, 1999).

Microaggressions are a rapidly expanding area of research (Lea et al., 2017, Peña et al., 2017) and the construct has been embraced by diversity researchers, trainers, and communities of color, suggesting that it is tapping into a previously underemphasized and important aspect of contemporary racist experience. The rapid uptake has led to some resistance, with speculation that microaggression trainings may make White participants feel threatened and cause increased anger and distress in students of color, further exacerbating racial tensions and increasing outgroup bias (Lilienfeld, 2017). These concerns have led a few scholars to propose a moratorium on microaggression education pending more research (Haidt, 2017; Lilienfeld, 2017). To date, no research has attempted to demonstrate either positive (i.e., reductions in likelihood of committing microaggressions) or negative (i.e., increased feelings of resentment or hostility) outcomes of specific training models that focus on microaggressions.

In addition to decreasing campus racism and the commission of microaggressions, improving interracial connectedness across racial lines is important for all students. For Black students, there is evidence showing that the better the quality of their interracial connections, the better their academic and psychological outcomes (Mendoza-Denton & Page-Gould, 2008). Enhancing the social belongingness of Black students also improved the health and well-being of these students (Walton & Cohen, 2011).

Interracial connectedness also reduces racism among White students. Decades of research documents that intergroup contact is an important mechanism to reduce prejudice and improve attitudes (Davies, Tropp, Aron, Pettigrew, & Wright, 2011; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2000). More personal and intimate contact, in particular, creates stronger intergroup contact effects, including prejudice reduction (Davies et al., 2011; Turner, Hewstone, Voci, Paolini, & Christ, 2007). The Interpersonal Process Model (IPM) of intimacy (Reis & Shaver, 1988) states that intimacy is a function of both members of a dyad exchanging vulnerable information with each other. Consistent with IPM theory, when cross-racial participants exchange such details with each other, interracial anxiety decreases and friendship increases (Page-Gould, Mendoza-Denton, & Tropp, 2008; Shelton, Trail, West, & Bergsieker, 2010). Even among individuals who experienced negative intergroup contact, those who experienced it in the context of intimate exchanges had more positive attitudes about the outgroup (Graf, Paolini, & Rubin, 2018).

Contextual behavioral science (CBS) offers some promising techniques for promoting connection across differences. Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP; (Tsai et al., 2009)) can shape behavior through the use of interpersonal reinforcers such as empathy, statements of caring, and self-disclosure. FAP has been used to improve therapeutic relationships across racial differences (Miller, Williams, Wetterneck, Kanter, & Tsai, 2015; Vandenberghe, 2008) and as a technique for teaching therapists (e.g., Schoendorff & Steinwachs, 2012). The very act of connecting across differences can cause apprehension and anxiety due to fears and misconceptions about those from different racial groups. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999) centers on how to effectively help individuals willingly approach aversive private experiences so that behavior can be more fully aligned with one's values. As such, connection across racial differences can be facilitated when individuals can recognize and accept interracial anxieties, and nonetheless take positive actions in the service of anti-racist values (Kanter et al., 2019).

Empirically supported interventions that invoke intergroup contact as a mechanism for prejudice reduction exist, such as intergroup dialogue (IGD; Dessel & Rogge, 2008; Gurin, Sorensen, Lopez, & Nagda, 2015, pp. 39–60). In IGD, those from different identity groups (e.g., Black and White students) meet over an extended period (e.g., a semester-long course) to have structured, facilitated conversations that explore issues of diversity, race, racism and inequities. While these efforts have accumulated empirical support across a variety of outcome metrics, to date no IGD or other intervention efforts have been published that educate about or address microaggressions, or measure the impacts of the intervention on microaggressions. In fact, research suggests that such facilitated dialogues can at times trigger individual-level biases and anxieties in White participants who subsequently respond defensively and perpetuate microaggressions during the trainings (Sue, Lin, et al., 2009; Sue et al., 2009). Thus, it is possible that microaggressions occur in such trainings, harming participants of color, and remain unaddressed even as other prejudice-reduction benefits are observed.

To address the need for brief, empirically-supported interventions to sensitively and effectively reduce racism, including microaggressions, while simultaneously improving interracial connections and strengthening ethnic identity for people of color, we developed the Racial Harmony Workshop (RHW)(Williams, 2019). Unlike IGD, which may occur over several weeks or months, the RHW was a workshop designed to maximize change in a brief period, with roots in CBS.

The current study compared the RHW to an active control intervention which involved a well-known anti-racism video and discussion protocol. Two primary differences between the interventions were (1) the RHW protocol discussed microaggressions directly while the control intervention did not, and (2) the intergroup contact interactions of the RHW emphasized intimate vulnerable exchanges of personal information while the control interaction was a dialogue about racial topics and themes generated from a video. The mechanism of action for the RHW lies within the forming of connections across racial differences, combined with positive information that dispels inaccurate assumptions about racial group differences. Debunking negative stereotypes about Black people can help facilitate efforts at connection in otherwise anxious White students and improve ethnic identity in African Americans, especially for those who may be suffering from internalized racism. A similar workshop for medical students was shown to improve provider responsiveness to patients of color (Kanter et al., 2020).

Given the specific focus on microaggressions in the RHW, for White students we predicted significant reductions in scores on a measure of likelihood to commit microaggressions (with a large effect size), and we predicted this effect size would be larger than reductions in other indicators of racism in this condition, compared with the control intervention. Regarding social connectedness, we expected that the more vulnerable exchanges of the RHW would produce larger increases in positive feelings and social connectedness towards Black participants (with a large effect size) compared to the control intervention. We also predicted decreases in cross-racial anxiety (with a moderate effect size).

For Black participants, we expected reductions in explicit anti-White bias/sentiments (albeit with a small effect size) in the RHW, compared with the control intervention. We also expected increases in identification with one's ethnic identity in the RHW, compared with the control. Similar to what we predicted for White participants, we expected larger increases in positive feelings and social connectedness towards White participants for Black participants in the RHW, compared with the control intervention. We also predicted decreases in cross-racial anxiety (with a small effect size). Lastly, to address concerns about whether focusing on microaggressions would be harmful and increase feelings of hostility or anxiety, we also measured affect before and after the workshops and satisfaction at follow-up. We expected that all participants would find the workshops enjoyable, or at the very least, non-aversive.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were undergraduate students at a large public university in New England and were recruited through courses, flyers, emails to various college organizations (Greek life, athletic teams, Black Students Organization, etc.), and posts to a university Facebook group. To be eligible for the study, participants had to be non-Hispanic White or Black Americans. 373 students were screened, 283 were found eligible, and 49 were invited and agreed to attend the workshop. A total of 44

Analyses of all participants

Mean satisfaction with the workshops, as measured at follow-up, was 8.36 out of 10 (SD 1.86), with no significant differences by race, condition, or sex. Results of subsequent analyses are shown in Table 2, with means and standard deviations for all measures and groups by condition and combined.

Positive and negative affectivity

Black participants. For the PANAS-Positive, the Condition × Time (pre- vs. post-workshop) interaction was not significant (p = 0.21). There was a main effect of Time (F[1, 18] = 21.96, p < .001, partial η

Discussion

The current study examined the potential of the Racial Harmony Workshop, an innovative combination of educational and experiential exercises, to both educate about race, racism, and microaggressions specifically, and to encourage vulnerable, interracial exchanges. Results indicated that this CBS-informed intervention facilitated a number of benefits for both Black and White participants.

Conclusion

The current study provides evidence for the benefits of traditional diversity training experiences and for the additive benefits of the RHW, an intervention based in contextual behavioral science. Overall, for White participants, the RHW facilitated improved attitudes and less racism towards Black people and engagement in cross-racial interactions in ways that are less microaggressive, when compared to the control condition. The control workshop, a traditional intervention, does not appear to

Code of ethics

This research has been carried out in accordance with The Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki). The study was approved by the University of Connecticut IRB.

Funding

This research was funded by a Visionary Grant from the American Psychological Foundation.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Timothy Michaels, Connor Gallik, Alexis Collins, Jocelyn Giordano, and Emma Turner, for their assistance with the implementation of the Racial Harmony Workshop, and Daniel Rosen for his conceptual guidance.

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