Correcting Misperceptions about Ethno-Racial Discrimination: The Limits of Evidence-Based Awareness Raising to Promote Support for Equal-Treatment Policies

Abstract

The disadvantages experienced by minorities and the lack of societal remedies for them are widely believed to be partly attributable to mainstream-majority citizens’ limited awareness of the hardships encountered by minorities. This study investigates whether informing citizens about field experiments on ethno-racial discrimination increases their recognition of the issue and support for equal-treatment policies. Based on the assumption that citizens require assistance to comprehend the significance of field-experimental evidence, the study tests three types of framing: a scientist framing the evidence as credible, a lawyer emphasizing the legal breach, or a minority expressing personal grief. The results indicate that citizens are generally aware of discrimination against ethno-racial minorities and even tend to overperceive its extent. Furthermore, communicating field-experimental results corrects and converges misperceptions but does not change recognition of the problem or support for equal-treatment policies, regardless of the framing or initial misperception. Only combining priming, correction, and framing temporarily increases recognition and donations to minority support groups, but not support for equal-treatment policies. These findings suggest evidence-based awareness campaigns have limited immediate success in promoting policy support. Citizens may donate to acknowledge minority hardships but hesitate to endorse policies that could affect their group’s privileged position.