Black Liberals v. Black Conservatives: Perceived Racial Identity Impacts the Relationship between Political Beliefs and Empathy Towards Blacks

We examined how Blacks’ political beliefs shape their attitudes towards Blacks and perceptions of a Black individual’s racial identity. Conservatism was positively associated with anti-Black attitudes (Study 1). Furthermore, highly-identified Blacks who were conservative perceived Blacks with non-prejudiced beliefs as weakly identified and subsequently showed them less empathy (Study 2).