Page 127 - Microaggressions in Everyday Live Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation

The Effects of Microaggressive Stress 101

aimed at determining the meaning of the statement ( “ Was it a compliment

or stereotype? ” ). Considerable energy may be expended in cognitively apprais-
ing the situation. Besides the ambiguity, the target may expend more energy
deliberating whether or not to respond or evaluating the consequences of
making a response, especially when the power differential is so great. The
fact that an internal cognitive process is stimulated may divert the student ’ s
attention and energies away from the task and/or affect his or her problem-
solving and learning ability.

Cognitive Disruption
In a study dealing with the cognitive costs of exposure to racism, investigators
used a laboratory experiment to directly test the impact of overt racism
versus the more ambiguous messages from racial microaggressions (Salvatore &
Shelton, 2007). Volunteers witnessed a company ’ s hiring decisions from the
inside (competing resumes of candidates and the interviewer ’ s comments
and recommendations) believing it was a real company. They created a situ-
ation in which little doubt was present which candidate was best qualifi ed.
Sometimes these candidates were fairly chosen and at other times they were
not. Experimenters varied the reasons (blatantly racist versus ambiguous
racial reasons) in all combinations to Black and White volunteers. They would
see Black candidates reviewed by Whites and Blacks, and the same for White
candidates.
Following the simulation, volunteers were then given the “ Stroop test, ” a
measure of cognitive and mental effort functioning. Blacks who witnessed
the unfair decisions showed pronounced impairment of problem solving;
but those who witnessed subtle racism showed more impairment than those
confronting overt racist conditions. The investigators believe that Blacks have
developed coping strategies to deal with overt racism, in which no “ guess-
work ” is involved. But the constant, vague, just - below - the - surface acts of covert
racism impair performance by draining psychological energy or detracting

from the task at hand. Interestingly, the findings were reversed for the White
volunteers; they were more impaired by overt rather than subtle racism. We
will elaborate more thoroughly the meaning of this fi nding later.

Stereotype Threat
Cognitive disruption and diminished functioning are also supported by
studies on stereotype threat (Cadinu et al., 2005; Steele, 1997; 2003; Steele,

Spencer, & Aronson, 2002). A very common microaggressive theme is “ ascription

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