Low-prejudice whites feel guilt when their behavior violates egalitarian norms.

Evidence

When actual responses were discrepant from people’s personal standards, Devine et al. (1991) found that low-prejudice people experienced compunction but high-prejudice people did not. Moreover, the greater the violation of nonprejudiced standards, the more guilt low-prejudice people reported. For low-prejudice people, then, the conflict between their should and would reactions threatens their nonprejudiced self-concepts and they hold themselves personally accountable for these failures. In tandem with considerable similar evidence (for a review, see Devine & Monteith, 1993), it appears that many people are embroiled in the arduous process of prejudice reduction. Further, in line with Allport’s prescient observations, the adoption and internalization of nonprejudiced standards is clearly only the first step in breaking the prejudice habit. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2106 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Another solution might be this: There is first of all a sadistic aggression toward the black man, followed by a guilt complex because of the sanction against such behavior by the democratic culture of the country in question. This aggression is then tolerated by the Negro: whence masochism. But, I shall be told, your schema is invalid: It does not contain the elements of classic masochism. Perhaps, indeed, this situation is not classic. In any event, it is the only way in which to explain the masochistic behavior of the white man. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 632 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Only people with internalized nonprejudiced standards feel guilt over their actual prejudiced responses — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2106; White guilt stays low partly because privilege is hard to detect as an absence — Janet K. Swim and Deborah L. Miller, White Guilt: Its Antecedents and…, 134; White shame rather than guilt may drive resistance to anti-racism efforts — Janet K. Swim and Deborah L. Miller, White Guilt: Its Antecedents and…, 137 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Only low-prejudice people feel guilt when their behavior falls short of their nonprejudiced ideals #corroborates (0.98) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2106
• Low-prejudice people experience compunction when their behavior contradicts their egalitarian standards #corroborates (0.97)
• White masochism arises from guilt over sanctioned sadistic aggression toward blacks #complicates (0.75) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 632