arbiter
JournalsAccount

On the relationship between indirect measures of Black versus White racial attitudes and discriminatory outcomes: An adversarial collaboration using a sample of White Americans.

Jordan R. Axt et al.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology2026https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000480article
AJG 4ABDC A*
Weight
0.37

Abstract

The idea that racial prejudice contributes to discrimination not only deliberately but also in a more automatic fashion has been one of the most prominent topics in social psychological research in the past 30 years. Much of the evidence for theories of automatic prejudice stems from the use of indirect measures of implicit attitudes, yet meta-analyses give differing estimates regarding the predictive validity of such measures. The present adversarial collaboration provides a test of the relationships between prominent measures of implicit racial attitudes and discriminatory behavior using a set of established lab-based paradigms among a sample of White Americans (N = 2,114). Using structural equation models that can account for measurement error, frequentist and Bayesian multiverse analyses confirmed that White Americans' performance on indirect measures correlate modestly with these behavioral outcomes, and explain unique variance (∼2.5%) beyond direct, self-report measures of racial attitudes. At the same time, self-report measures exhibited greater predictive and incremental validity than indirect measures (explaining ∼45% of the variance) despite behavioral measures of discrimination displaying weak internal reliability. Results provided some support for greater predictive and incremental validity for indirect measures among participants scoring relatively low on measures of executive function and motivation to control prejudice. These results lend themselves to both relatively optimistic and pessimistic interpretations concerning scientific and practical significance. All collaborators agree that the best path forward is collaborative and focused on the generalizability of implicit racial attitudes to high-accountability organizational settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).

1 citation

Open via your library →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000480

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{jordan2026,
  title        = {{On the relationship between indirect measures of Black versus White racial attitudes and discriminatory outcomes: An adversarial collaboration using a sample of White Americans.}},
  author       = {Jordan R. Axt et al.},
  journal      = {Journal of Personality and Social Psychology},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000480},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

On the relationship between indirect measures of Black versus White racial attitudes and discriminatory outcomes: An adversarial collaboration using a sample of White Americans.

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.