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See No Evil: Color Blindness and Perceptions of Subtle Racial
Discrimination in the Workplace
Lynn R. Offermann, Tessa E. Basford, Raluca Graebner, Salman Jaffer, Sumona Basu De Graaf,
and Samuel E. Kaminsky
George Washington University
Workplace discrimination has grown more ambiguous, with interracial interactions often perceived
differently by different people. The present study adds to the literature by examining a key individual
difference variable in the perception of discrimination at work, namely individual color-blind attitudes.
We examined relationships between 3 dimensions of color-blind attitudes (Racial Privilege, Institutional
Discrimination, and Blatant Racial Issues) and perceptions of racial microaggressions in the workplace
as enacted by a White supervisor toward a Black employee (i.e., discriminatory actions ranging from
subtle to overt). Findings showed that observer views on institutional discrimination fully mediated, and
blatant racial issues partially mediated, the relationships between racial group membership and the
perception of workplace microaggressions. Non-Hispanic Whites endorsed color blindness as institu-
tional discrimination and blatant racial issues significantly more than members of racioethnic minority
groups, and higher levels of color-blind worldviews were associated with lower likelihoods of perceiving
microaggressions. Views on racial privilege did not differ significantly between members of different
racial groups or affect microaggression perceptions. Implications for organizations concerned about
promoting more inclusive workplaces are discussed.
Keywords: microaggressions, discrimination, color blindness
Blatant discrimination appears to be declining in American
workplaces, replaced by more ambiguous manifestations of
prejudice (Dipboye & Colella, 2005;Dovidio & Gaertner,
2000). However, subtle prejudice, often unconscious on the part
of the perpetrator (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995), may be no less
damaging to the worker or work environment, threatening the
mental well-being of the individuals involved (Noh, Kaspar, &
Wickrama, 2007). In addition to impacting the target of dis-
crimination, recent work suggests that ethnic harassment can
negatively impact the occupational health of those who witness
or are aware of the harassment of coworkers, making it a
concern for all employees (Low, Radhakrishnan, Schnieder, &
Rounds, 2007).
Organizations need to be able to recognize and discourage
even subtle forms of discrimination, but identifying such dis-
crimination can be challenging because it may be largely in the
eye of the beholder. In ambiguous situations, those subjected to
subtle discrimination may be left wondering about the validity
of their own perceptions (i.e., Sue, 2010), and hence be less
likely to report such incidents to their organizations for possible
remediation. Even social acceptance can create causal uncer-
tainty (Major, 2005), with members of minority groups inter-
preting positive feedback from a majority group member as
causally ambiguous and potentially disingenuous (Mendes, Ma-
jor, McCoy, & Blascovich, 2008). Thus, our work focuses on
the beholder as we examine factors causing some individuals to
make attributions of discrimination more than others in work-
related, ambiguous exchanges with racial overtones. Subtle
discrimination research has generally assumed an agent per-
spective, seeking to uncover the mechanics of implicit discrim-
ination (Quillian, 2008) or aversive racism (Dovidio & Gaert-
ner, 2000) from the perpetrator’s point of view rather than the
target’s or observer’s. Taking an attributional perspective, we
examine individual differences in perceptions of subtle discrim-
ination. This work is important in that failure to perceive subtle
discrimination enhances the view that discrimination has been
solved, the field leveled, and no further consideration of race,
gender, or other domains of potential discrimination is required,
even as members of targeted groups perceive otherwise.
Our research uses the theoretical framework of “microaggres-
sions”—a taxonomy of discriminatory behaviors from subtle to
overt—developed in the counseling field primarily through qualita-
tive exploration (Constantine, Smith, Redington, & Owens, 2008;Sue
et al., 2008). To our knowledge, no published studies have empirically
examined individual differences in perceptions of microaggressions.
We address this gap by focusing on individual differences in color
blindness (Neville, Lilly, Duran, Lee, & Browne, 2000) as this con-
struct captures a person’s “worldview”—his or her system of indi-
vidual values and beliefs that filters interpretation of social interac-
tions. Specifically, we investigate whether color blindness differs
based on racioethnic group membership and affects the likelihood of
attributing interracial workplace interactions to discrimination.
This article was published Online First August 11, 2014.
Lynn R. Offermann, Tessa E. Basford, Raluca Graebner, Salman Jaffer,
Sumona Basu De Graaf, and Samuel E. Kaminsky, Department of Orga-
nizational Sciences and Communication, George Washington University.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Lynn R.
Offermann, Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication,
George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052. E-mail: lro@
gwu.edu
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Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology © 2014 American Psychological Association
2014, Vol. 20, No. 4, 499–507 1099-9809/14/$12.00 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0037237
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