%0 Journal Article
%T Valuing Differences and Reinforcing Them: Multiculturalism Increases Race Essentialism
%A Evan P. Apfelbaum
%A Jessica J. Good
%A Leigh S. Wilton
%J Social Psychological and Personality Science
%@ 1948-5514
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1948550618780728
%X A substantial body of research on diversity philosophies has shown that multiculturalism (i.e., emphasizing and valuing cultural/ethnic differences) is a more effective way to promote equality and reduce bias than color blindness (i.e., deemphasizing cultural/ethnic differences in lieu of similarities). However, across two experiments, we present evidence for an unexpectedly negative outcome of multiculturalism: increased belief in race essentialism, or the notion that racial group differences are valid, biologically based, and immutable. Study 1 (N = 165) shows that participants exposed to multiculturalism expressed greater race essentialist beliefs compared to those exposed to color blindness. Study 2 (N = 150) replicates this effect and also finds that exposure to multiculturalism, compared to color blindness, decreased participants¡¯ belief that racial equality is a problem. These findings raise the ironic possibility that well-intentioned efforts to portray the value of differences may reinforce the belief that fixed, biological characteristics underpin them
%K discrimination
%K group processes
%K prejudice/stereotyping
%K racism
%K social cognition
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550618780728