Unwilling to Un-Blame: Whites Who Dismiss Historical Causes of Societal Disparities Also Dismiss Personal Mitigating Information for Black Offenders

Abstract

When will racial bias in blame and punishment emerge? Here, we focus on White people's willingness to “un-blame” Black and White offenders upon learning of their unfortunate life histories or biological impairments. We predicted that personal mitigating narratives of Black (but not White) offenders would be ignored by Whites who are societal-level anti-historicists. Societal-level anti-historicists deny that a history of oppression by Whites has shaped current societal-level intergroup disparities. Thus, our prediction centers on how societal-level beliefs relate to bias against individuals. Our predictions were confirmed in three studies. In one of those studies, we also showed how racial bias in willingness to un-blame can be removed: Societal-level anti-historicists became open to mitigation for Black offenders if they were reminded that the offender began as an innocent baby. Results are discussed in terms of how the rich literature on blame and moral psychology could enrich the study of racial bias.