Racism, Counterfactual Thinking, and Judgment Severity1
- 1 June 1993
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in Journal of Applied Social Psychology
- Vol. 23 (12) , 980-995
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1993.tb01017.x
Abstract
Two contrasting models of the effects of motivational influences on the relationship between counterfactual thinking and social judgment were tested, using a modified version of Wells and Gavanski's (1989) cab driver vignette. Undergraduates (N= 208) assigned blame to a negligent white or black target after imagining how the target's alternative behavior could have either easily or improbably averted two accident‐related fatalities. Results suggested that motivational variables such as racism moderate the relationship between counterfactual thinking and judgment severity rather than directly affect the counterfactual thinking process itself. Implications for current conceptions of both counterfactual thinking and racism are discussed.This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
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