This NSF Minority Post-Doctoral Fellowship Research project in the Social and Behavioral Sciences examines the role of group-based emotions, specifically guilt and shame, in middle class African Americans efforts to address their obligation to the Black community. Past research on group-based emotions has demonstrated that collective guilt requires acknowledgment of a degree of ingroup responsibility for harm against the othergroup (Lickel, Schmader, Barquissau, 2004; Swim & Miller, 1999). These emotions may lead the person to take action in an effort to correct their wrongdoings (i.e., donatetime/money). This project proposes that group-based emotions of African Americans can also motivate donations. Qualitative differences between these group-based emotions and those reported by dominant group members are discussed. After establishing scales appropriate for assessing middle class African American's group-based emotions, the studies that follow will examine the role of failure to live up to moral obligation which may result in these group-based emotions and shame and the relation between these emotions and actions to help African Americans. In Study 1 and 2, discrepancies between how middle class African Americans should help versus beliefs on how much African Americans perceive that they would help are predicted to lead to negative views of the self will be assessed. African Americans who believe their group is not satisfying obligations are predicted to lead to group-based guilt and shame. Study 3 will assess the relation between type of information and emotions. Emotions are predicted to be strongest for those who endorse moral obligation of the African American community to help African Americans. The more central group identity is to African Americans, the more they should feel obligated to help other African Americans. This may be particularly true for members of the African American middle class. This relationship will be investigated in Study 4. Studies 6 and 7 will examine the consequences of group based guilt.
