Graduation Term
Spring 2025
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Department of Psychology: School Psychology
Committee Chair
Brea Banks
Committee Member
Caitlin Mercier
Committee Member
Dawn McBride
Committee Member
Tina Williams
Abstract
Racial microaggressions are brief, everyday derogatory interactions in the form of subtle insults, gestures, or slights (Sue et al., 2007). Microaggressions often are intentional or unintentional interactions that communicate denigrating messages to individuals holding marginalized identities. Previous research suggests that exposure to microaggressions directly results in cognitive depletion (Banks & Landau, 2021). The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of exposure to racial and gendered microaggressions on Black women’s cognitive functioning and the role of racial centrality, age, and colorblind attitudes. I hypothesized that (a) condition assignment would predict changes in cognitive functioning for Black women, (b) racial centrality would moderate the relation between condition assignment and cognitive depletion, and (c) perceptions of colorblindness would mediate or explain the relation between age and cognitive depletion for participants in the experimental condition. Condition assignment predicted depletion of cognitive resources, but racial centrality did not moderate the relation between condition assignment and cognitive depletion, and colorblind attitudes did not mediate the relation between age and cognitive depletion. Future research should examine variables that may exacerbate or mitigate cognitive depletion after exposure to microaggressions for Black women.
Access Type
Dissertation-Open Access
Recommended Citation
Towner, Jazsmine, "What’s Age Got to Do with it? The Cognitive Effects of Racial and Gendered Microaggressions among Black Women and the Role of Age, Colorblindness and Racial Identity" (2025). Theses and Dissertations. 2212.
https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/etd/2212
DOI
https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD.1763755358.429647