PREJUDICE TOWARD BLACKS - WITH AND WITHOUT COMPUNCTION

Previous work has shown that only individuals with low prejudiced (LP) attitudes toward gay men experience compunction (e.g., guilt, self-cr iticism) when they respond with a greater degree of prejudice than is allowed by their own personal standards. Those high in prejudice (HP) toward gay men do not experience much compunction (e.g., Devine, Monte ith, Zuwerink, & Elliot, 1991). The generalizability of these findings to the domain of prejudice toward Blacks was examined in our research . Despite differences in the nature of prejudice toward gay men and Bl acks, the results of two studies closely replicated previous findings. Specifically, LP individuals reported low prejudice and well-internal ized personal standards for responding to Blacks, and violations of th ose standards resulted in feelings of compunction. In comparison, HP i ndividuals reported more prejudice and less well-internalized standard s that were not associated with strong compunction when violated. Impl ications for prejudice reduction are discussed.