Identity denial may make mixed-race people shift identification to a different ingroup

Evidence

However, given that Mixed individuals have access to multiple racial–ethnic group memberships, one may alternatively propose that they instead shift their social identification away from the excluding group and towards another racial–ethnic ingroup that is more promising in fulfilling their needs. The reaction to identity denial can thus be a decrease in identification with the denied identity and a complementary increased identification with another racial– ethnic group. It thus seems likely that Mixed individuals may adjust their level(s) of identification in response to identity denial, but the direction may depend on factors such as the perceived likelihood of subsequent acceptance. However, the relationship between ingroup rejection and ingroup identification is yet to be tested (cf. Huang and Degner, 2025b). — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 119

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s focus on how ingroup essentialism/entitativity pressures bear on internally heterogeneous members — this is the alternative-to-reassertion branch they’re testing against single-group theories. — connects to: Situationally salient dimensions drive which heritage identity a Mixed person foregrounds. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 79; Ingroup rejection lowers belonging yet paradoxically heightens the need for it — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 118; Mixed individuals categorically shift toward whichever mono-racial prototype is absent — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 51 (+21 more)
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: what empirical test distinguishes reassertion-of-denied-identity from switching-to-another-ingroup, and what moderators (perceived acceptance likelihood) would predict which path?
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 119

Broader Connections

• Concealability of an identity and its normative status shape mixed-identity processes. #expands (0.82) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 125
• Perceived discrimination strengthens group identity only for those already highly identified with their group #complicates (0.78) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 955
• Racial self-identification can conflict with claiming discrimination status #expands (0.75) — Neda Maghbouleh, The Limits of Whiteness, 105