Graduation Date

Spring 2023

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Master of Arts degree with a major in Psychology, option Academic Research

Committee Chair Name

Amber Gaffney

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Second Committee Member Name

Amanda Hahn

Second Committee Member Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Third Committee Member Name

Justin Hackett

Third Committee Member Affiliation

Community Member or Outside Professional

Subject Categories

Psychology

Abstract

Black Lives Matter (BLM) symbolizes the need to recognize the humanity of Black lives and the systemic discrimination contributing to the murders of unarmed Black Americans at the hands of police. While there were some white Americans who participated in the demonstrations during the summer of 2020, there was also significant opposition (Astor, 2020). . The current work seeks to contribute to existing social identity literature by examining how subtle racist rhetoric in the media, combined with a threat to the white American identity (prototypicality threat) may impact support for BLM. To address these hypotheses, white participants will be recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Based on research from Moscovici and Perez (2007) and Stephan, Renfro, and Davis (2008), I hypothesize that white Americans who feel prototypical of the American identity will be more supportive of BLM when media describes the movement and activists as agents of peace seeking to dismantle systems of anti-Blackness and end police brutality as opposed to being described as a militant group.

Citation Style

APA

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