The document summarizes research on the impact of a multicultural psychology course on undergraduate students' levels of colorblind racial attitudes. It finds that: 1) Students showed a significant decrease in colorblind racial ideology scores from the beginning to the end of the course, supporting the hypothesis that the course would reduce colorblind attitudes. 2) While most scales and subscales showed students had greater multicultural awareness, empathy, and experiences by the end of the course, students' multicultural experiences and empathy did not significantly influence the decrease in colorblind attitudes. 3) There was a significant interaction in one measure where women increased in ethnocultural empathy more than men, and White students' perceptions of discrimination against minority

1. RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2012
www.PosterPresentations.com
One model of cultural competency is the tripartite model. The
three dimensions of the tripartite model include: awareness,
knowledge, and skills. Awareness has been defined as increasing
one’s own awareness about personal biases and assumptions.
Knowledge refers to having specific knowledge pertaining to racial
and ethnic heritages and calls for knowledge about racism,
oppression and privilege. Finally, skills are the specific interactions
and techniques employed by a counselor in working with diverse
clientele (Sue et al., 1992). The tripartite model has been widely used
for training future psychologists.
Although there have been numerous models, techniques, concepts,
etc. that have been implemented in the classroom, there still appears
to be something missing from influencing students to engage with
multicultural material in the most beneficial manner. It has been
thought that colorblindness makes it more difficult for individuals to
engage with meaningful conversation about race (Choi, 2008).
Colorblindness is broadly an ideology in which people claim that
they do not judge a person by their race or ethnicity but rather by
their character. It is steeped in liberal ideology that values the notion
that all individuals are perceived in fairness and equality (Choi, 2008;
Delgado & Stafancic, 2001) making it difficult to address for change
due to the belief that individuals are being judged and treated equally
(Delgado & Stefancic, 2001).
INTRODUCTION
METHODS
RESULTS RESULTS DISCUSSION
 We expected that there would be a significant decrease in
colorblind racial ideology from the beginning of the course to the
end. Indeed we found a significant decrease in colorblind racial
ideology. There were no gender or race/ethnicity effects.
 We also expected that multicultural experiences and
ethnocultural empathy would significantly moderate the
significant decrease in colorblind racial ideology. There were no
significant moderating effects of sociocultural empathy or
multicultural experiences.
 Despite lack of moderating effects, almost every scale and
subscale displayed significant difference between the beginning
of the semester and the end of the semester in the desired
direction. Significant correlations were documented between
scales and subscales.
Limitations
 Small sample size with low numbers of ethnic/racial minorities
 Self-selection bias: Participants self-selected into this elective
multicultural psychology course
 Pre-post test design without a control group
 Predominantly White University
 Use of measures in a classroom
Future Directions
 We can engage more thorough, detailed analysis with the present
dataset.
 There is a need for experimental studies with general populations
that reveal strategies that work to improve empathy and reduce
colorblind racial ideation.
 Future studies may target greater ethnic diversity in sample
REFERENCES
Choi, J. (2008). Unlearning Colorblind Ideologies in Education Class.
Educational Foundations, 22(3/4), 53-71.
Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical Race Theory: An introduction.
New York: New York University Press.
Narvaez, D., & Hill, P. L. (2010). The relation of multicultural experiences
to moral judgment and mindsets. Journal of Diversity in Higher
Education, 3, 43-55. doi:10.1037/a0018780
Neville, H. A., Lilly, R. L., Duran, G., Lee, R.M., & Browne, L. (2000).
Construction and initial validation of the Color-Blind Racial Attitudes
Scale (CoBRAS). Journal of Counseling Psychology, 47(1), 59.
Sue, D. W., Arredondo, P., & McDavis, R. J. (1992). Multicultural
counseling competencies and standards: A call to the profession.
Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 20, 64-88.
doi:10.1002/j.2161-1912.1992.tb00563.x
Wang, Y., Davidson, M. M., Yakushko, O. F., Savoy, H. B., Tan, J. A., &
Bleier, J. K. (2003). The Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy:
Development, validation, and reliability. Journal of Counseling
Psychology, 50, 221.
Participants.
 76 undergraduate men (n = 35) and women (n = 41)
 Upper division Multicultural Psychology class taught in to Fall
2013 (n = 40) and Fall 2014 (n = 36)
 Race/Ethnicity: White/European American (n = 65), Asian (n =
4), multiethnic (n = 4), Hispanic/Latino (n = 2), N/A (n = 1)
Measures.
 Colorblind Racial Attitudes Scale (CoBRAS)
 Multicultural Experiences Questionnaire (MEQ)
 Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (SEE)
Procedure.
Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in an upper
division multicultural psychology class at a PWU. The course syllabi
explicitly stated that course content and activities were intended to
change students’ attitudes, knowledge, and skills in line with Sue’s
(1992) cultural competency triad. The course utilized didactic and
experiential components to facilitate learning. As part of the course,
students completed a broad battery of measures including the
Colorblind Racial Attitudes Scale, Multicultural Experiences
Questionnaire, and the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy at the
beginning of the semester and again at the end.
Christina Patterson and Melanie M. Domenech Rodríguez
Undergraduate student change in colorblind racial attitudes:
Impact of a multicultural psychology course
Scale Time 1
N
Cronbach’s
Alpha
Time 2
N
Cronbach’s
Alpha
MEQ Experience 73 .73 71 .69
MEQ Desire 75 .71 73 .65
MEQ Discrimination
Perception
71 .87 68 .92
MEQ Social Group
Perception
73 .89 73 .91
MEQ Total 73 .74 71 .72
SEE Empathic Feeling and
Expression
74 .87 73 .86
SEE Empathic Perspective
Taking
75 .72 72 .73
SEE Acceptance of Cultural
Differences
74 .74 72 .64
SEE Empathic Awareness 74 .73 73 .81
CoBRAS 75 .85 72 .87
Table 1. Reliability of Scales and Subscales
Scale Time 1
M SD
Time 2
M SD
95% CI
for Mean
Difference
t sig.
MEQ Experience 25.56 5.80 27.21 5.27 -2.37, -.94 -4.61 <.001
MEQ Desire 20.42 2.64 21.71 2.26 -1.79, -.79 -5.17 <.001
MEQ
Discrimination
Perception
52.01 8.59 53.56 10.84 -4.20, 1.08 -1.18 .245
MEQ Social
Group Perception
61.51 8.87 63.72 9.14 -4.53, .11 -1.90 .062
MEQ Total 45.97 7.06 48.92 6.34 -3.92, -1.97 -6.01 <.001
SEE Empathic
Feeling/Expressio
n
4.41 .72 4.83 .57 -.59, -.26 -5.19 <.001
SEE Empathic
Perspective
Taking
3.71 .89 3.99 .83 -.45, -.12 -3.47 .001
SEE Acceptance
of Cultural
Differences
5.05 .71 5.28 .56 -.38, -.07 -2.88 .005
SEE Empathic
Awareness
4.51 .91 5.12 .74 -.83, -.38 -5.41 <.001
CoBRAS Total 58.88 12.28 47.68 12.69 8.93, 13.46 9.87 <.001
M = Mean, SD = Standard Deviation
MEQ Experience range 13-38, MEQ Desire range 6-32, MEQ
Discrimination Perception range 16-90, Social Group Impressions range
16-90, MEQ Total range 19-70, Discrimination Perception and Social
Group Impressions are not part of MEQ Total
SEE Empathic Feeling and expression range 1-6, SEE Empathic
Perspective Taking range 1-6, SEE Acceptance of Cultural Differences
range 1-6, SEE Empathic Awareness range 1-6
CoBRAS Total range 20-120
Higher scores indicate higher perception of scale/subscale measured (e.g.
higher CoBRAS total score indicates higher color-blind racial ideation)
Figure 1. SEE Empathic Awareness Gender * Time
Figure 2. MEQ Discrimination Perception Ethnicity * Time
H1: There will be a significant decrease in colorblind racial ideology
from the beginning of the course to the end
H2: Multicultural experiences and ethnocultural empathy will
significantly moderate the significant decrease in colorblind racial
ideology.
HYPOTHESES
Ethnocultural Empathy. There was a significant main effect for time,
F(1,70) = 33.56, p < .001, but there was no significant main effect for
gender. There was a significant interaction between gender and and
time, F(1,70) = 5.38, p = .02. Men and women showed an significant
increase on the SEE empathic awareness subscale from the beginning of
the semester to the end of the semester. At this time, there were no
significant differences between men and women.
Perception of discrimination. The MEQ Discrimination Perception
subscale indicated a trending significant interaction between ethnicity
and time related to perceived discrimination, F(1,69) = 2.74, p = .10.
There were no significant main effects for time or ethnicity. At the
beginning of the semester, White students and minority students self-
reported similar levels of perceived discrimination towards diverse
groups. By the end of the semester, White students indicated higher
rates of perceived discrimination towards diverse groups; whereas,
minority students reported lower rates of perceived discrimination
towards diverse groups. As this scale includes marginalized and
majority groups, item-specific analysis needs to be done to better
understand these effects.
Table 2. Paired Samples T Tests between Time 1 and Time 2
CONTACT
Christina Patterson: cpatterson@aggiemail.usu.edu
Melanie Domenech Rodríguez: melanie.domenech@usu.edu