Testing the efficacy of three informational interventions for reducing misperceptions of the Black-White wealth gap.

ABSTRACT: Americans remain unaware of the magnitude of economic inequality in the nation and the degree to which it is patterned by race. We exposed a community sample of respondents to one of three interventions designed to promote a more realistic understanding of the Black-White wealth gap. The interventions conformed to recommendations in messaging about racial inequality drawn from the social sciences yet differed in how they highlighted data-based trends in Black-White wealth inequality, a single personal narrative, or both. Data interventions were more effective than the narrative in both shifting how people talk about racial wealth inequality-eliciting less speech about personal achievement-and, critically, lowering estimates of Black-White wealth equality for at least 18 mo following baseli

SUBMITTER: Callaghan B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8463878 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature