Fitness ambiguity pushes mixed-race people toward constructivist views or identity dissonance

Evidence

This ambiguity may motivate Mixed individuals to deliberate more deeply about the constructs of race or ethnicity, ultimately resulting in high resilience and a more constructivist view of racial–ethnic categories (e.g., Shih et al. 2007, 2019). Alternatively, it may result in an unpleasant state of dissonance, particularly when others highlight ambiguities when invalidating self-categorizations. For example, some Black/White Mixed individuals have reported experiencing derogatory remarks because their physical appearance does not align with perceived stereotypical behaviours associated with their racial–ethnic identity (e.g., Franco et al. 2016). — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 47

Categorization

• XREF: Connects directly to the reader’s purpose on ingroup essentialism/entitativity pressures — the invalidation-by-others mechanism mirrors how internally heterogeneous group members get pushed out of the prototype. — connects to: Constructivist views of race enable mixed-race identity mobility — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 104; Essentialist beliefs about race incline mixed individuals toward a single distinct mixed identity — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 79; Identity invalidation by mono-racial others shapes mixed individuals’ self-definition — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 115 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Mixed-identity people shift self-categorizations situationally because prototype-similarity assessments stay inconclusive #expands (0.83) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 60
• Identity denial may make mixed-race people shift identification to a different ingroup #expands (0.80) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 119
• Mixed-identity individuals shift between racial identities to meet context-specific needs. #expands (0.80) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 64
• Identity invalidation by mono-racial others shapes mixed individuals’ self-definition #expands (0.78) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 115
• Mixed identities involve ambiguously crossing mutually exclusive categories within a single social domain #expands (0.77) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 15
• Perceived similarity to a racial category drives self-categorization among mixed-race people #qualifies (0.76) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 37
• Mixed members treat racial-ethnic identities as context-switchable need satisfiers #corroborates (0.76)
• Essentialist beliefs about race incline mixed individuals toward a single distinct mixed identity #complicates (0.75) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 79
• Outward racial rigidity masks internally contradictory individual subjectivities #corroborates (0.75)
• Apparent racial inconsistency can reflect adherence to divergent contextual norms #corroborates (0.74) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1889