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Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 4, 507-516 (2000)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167200266009

The O. J. Simpson Criminal Verdict as a Racially Symbolic Event: A Longitudinal Analysis of Racial Attitude Change

Jason A. Nier

Connecticut College, janie{at}conncoll.edu

Gary R. Mottola

The Vanguard Group

Samuel L. Gaertner

University of Delaware

White college students’ racial attitudes were assessed before and after the O. J. Simpson criminal verdict. The authors tested two models, derived from the Symbolic Racism perspective, to examine potential changes in racial attitudes following the verdict. According to the construal model, racial attitudes influence how individuals construe race-related events. Therefore, the construal model suggested that pre-verdict racial attitudes would predict perceptions of the Simpson verdict. The symbolic event model, however, suggested that the verdict itself shaped racial attitudes and that perceptions of the verdict would predict changes in racial attitudes, independent of the effect of pre-verdict racial attitudes. The symbolic event model was largely supported; perceptions of the verdict predicted changes in racial attitudes, and racial attitudes became more crystallized following the verdict. The construal model, however, was only weakly supported; pre-verdict racial attitudes predicted the perceived fairness of the verdict, but only for those whose attitudes were well-crystallized.


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