The research presented here examines two social psychological processes affecting the way people give and respond to feedback, and how these processes may, under certain circumstances, depress the performance and motivation of African Americans in an academic domain. First, White evaluators, when giving feedback to Blacks, may withhold criticism and instead give more praise. This overly positive feedback may convey the message to Blacks that they are being held to low standards, and consequently undermine their self-efficacy and performance motivation. Second, even when given the same feedback, Blacks and Whites may respond to it differently. When given critical feedback by a White evaluator, Blacks may be more prone than Whites to attribute it to the racial prejudice of a White evaluator, leading them to discount the validity of constructive criticism even when appropriately given. The studies proposed in this grant investigate these two processes along with strategies for conveying critical feedback across potential barriers of mistrust.
