Sense of Lack of Control, Cognitive Control, and the Expression of Prejudice: The Role of Effort Withdrawal

Abstract

In contemporary societies, social norms constrain overt prejudice, requiring effortful cognitive processes to monitor and regulate behavior. We propose that diminished personal control is associated with withdrawal of cognitive effort, lower norm-sensitive detection, and greater prejudice expression. Two large-scale nationwide studies (Study 1, N  = 1,019; Study 2, N  = 1,055) tested this hypothesis. Across both studies, perceived lack of control predicted more frequent overt prejudice, mediated by lower norm-sensitive detection and, in Study 2, also by effort withdrawal. These results suggest that cognitive-regulatory processes may constitute an additional pathway linking perceived lack of control with prejudice expression. More broadly, they highlight the potential role of cognitive resource depletion and norm-sensitive regulation in understanding when prejudiced statements are expressed.