The Role of Historical Knowledge in Perception of Race-Based Conspiracies

We test the hypothesis that knowledge of historically documented, anti-black conspiracies affects perceived plausibility of new, anti-black conspiracies. In Experiment 1 (N = 78), African Americans and European Americans read about a current conspiracy aimed at undermining either African American or European American–elected officials. African Americans perceived the anti-black conspiracy as more plausible and the conspiracy informant as more credible than did European Americans. The difference in perception of informant credibility was mediated by recognition of historically documented, antiblack conspiracies. In Experiment 2, we manipulated European Americans’ (N = 105) exposure to information about historically documented, anti-black conspiracies. European Americans who learned about actual, past antiblack conspiracies perceived new anti-black conspiracies as more plausible than did European Americans who learned about race-silent conspiracies or who did not learn about conspiracies. To the extent that European Americans lack awareness of incidents of racism in US history, they are likely to underestimate the possibility that racism impacts contemporary events.