Caitlyn Yantis, Sarah Kornberg, Valerie Jones Taylor
ABSTRACT Although both inter‐ and intraracial conversations about race are necessary for combating racism, discrepancies in people's racial ideologies may hinder these discussions. We conducted three experiments ( N = 1529) to test how White American adults on Prolific (Studies 1 and 2) and White American college students (Study 3) anticipate a conversation about race with a White or Black person who expresses a race‐conscious or colorblind racial ideology. Across studies, participants interpreted a Black interaction partner's expression of colorblindness (vs. race‐consciousness) as a stronger identity safety cue. In contrast, participants interpreted a White interaction partner's expression of race‐consciousness (vs. colorblindness) as a stronger identity safety cue. However, participants’ internal motivation to respond without prejudice predicted more positive responses to the race‐conscious ideology expression regardless of partner race. These findings highlight when White Americans are most likely to engage in race‐relevant conversations necessary for anti‐racist allyship.