Understanding Meaning and Racial Prejudice: Examining Self-Transcendence and Psychological Inflexibility in a Sample of White College Students

Publication date: Available online 16 November 2018Source: Journal of Contextual Behavioral ScienceAuthor(s): Ivonne Andrea Florez, Stefan E. Schulenberg, Elicia C. Lair, Kelly G. Wilson, Kirk JohnsonAbstractRecent research suggests that meaning in life relates to processes of social judgments and could potentially facilitate relationships between racially diverse individuals. At this time however, there is no published study that examines factors that influence the relationship between meaning, racial prejudice, and values. To fill this gap, the present study examined whether (1) self-transcendence and (2) experiencing obstruction to valued living mediates the relationship between perceived meaning in life and prejudice in White individuals toward Black individuals. The study was conducted with 281 White students (females, 76.9%; males 23.1%) from a university located in the southern United States. Standard path-analytic approaches were used to examine a parallel mediational model through the macro PROCESS program. Results evidenced that self-transcendence and less obstruction to valued living had a significant indirect effect on the relationship between meaning in life and prejudice in White individuals toward Black individuals. Findings suggest that it is through the effect of greater self-transcendence and lower obstruction to values that perceived meaning in life results in lower levels of prejudice toward Blacks among White college students. Furthermore, without the ind...
Source: Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research