The ways and means of interracial aggression: Modern racists' use of covert retaliation

Modern racists are theorized to have negative affect and attitudes toward A frican Americans yet be motivated to avoid appearing prejudiced. Thus, they may behave toward African Americans in covert ways. This hypothesis was te sted using both an overt and covert measure of aggression in a competitive reaction-time task. Experiment 1 found that high modern racists were more o vertly and covertly aggressive than were low modem racists, regardless of c ompetitor race. In addition, high modern racists displayed a pattern of inc reasing covert aggression toward African Americans, whereas low modern raci sts inhibited retaliation even under high levels of provocation. Experiment 2 replicated Experiment I and provided evidence suggesting that covert agg ression is a strategic process that cannot be employed under conditions of reduced cognitive capacity. Covert aggression, along with other covert beha viors, is sea as highlighting differences between high and low modern racis ts.