The protective role of self-determined prejudice regulation in the relationship between intergroup threat and prejudice

Although plenty of evidence supports the link between intergroup threat and prejudice, few intrapersonal moderators of this
association have been investigated. One potentially important moderator is the source of motivation underlying prejudice regulation.
In Study 1, we examined whether self-determined prejudice regulation reduces the impact of intergroup threat on various outgroup
attitude variables (e.g., modern racism, outgroup affect, etc.). Results suggest that being self-determined in one’s motivation
to regulate prejudice buffers the impact of intergroup threat on prejudice, whereas regulating prejudice primarily for non-self-determined
reasons serves to exacerbate the threat-prejudice effect. In Study 2, a cross-sectional corroboration of this interaction
was obtained using structural equation modeling, revealing that the threat-prejudice link differed significantly across groups
of prejudice regulators. The role of self-determination in reducing the harmful effects of intergroup threat is discussed,
and implications for prejudice reduction and diversity education are identified.