Exploring Impacts of Diversity Ideologies on Allyship (Intergroup Responsiveness)

Colorblindness and multiculturalism are widely studied diversity ideologies that reflect prominent attitudes about how diversity should be understood and managed, as they can help predict individual behavior. Colorblindness proposes that distinct group identities should be ignored, and can be used to exclude minoritized groups and downplay racial minorities' experiences, whereas multiculturalism embraces and values group differences, can foster inclusive environments for minority groups, and leads to positive intergroup outcomes such as reduced prejudice. Despite much research dedicated to exploring the intergroup outcomes of diversity ideologies, few studies have examined their impacts on specific interpersonal interactions, particularly allyship. Research has defined allyship from the perspectives of majority group members who are providing allyship and minority group members who are on the receiving end. The interpersonal nature of allyship, namely the perspectives of the allyship enactor and receiver, remains unexplored. This thesis conceptualized allyship as intergroup responsiveness to further investigate perceptions of allyship effectiveness in a two-part study. Results found that allies' levels of colorblindness (controlling for multiculturalism) did not predict how they perceived their enacted responsiveness, nor did it predict how people of color perceived their response quality. However, further exploratory analyses did find significant effects of colorblindness on allies' perceptions of their own responsiveness and response quality when not covarying multiculturalism, as well as some evidence that colorblind allies may overestimate their responsiveness. Additionally, allies' multiculturalism (controlling for colorblindness) predicted both allies' and people of color's perceptions of allyship quality. The study has implications for the relevance of colorblindness and multiculturalism as predictors of allyship behavior and perceptions, differences in how allies versus allyship recipients interpret interactions, and potential benefits of multiculturalism for effective allyship interactions.