Being politically correct means taking measures, whether at the level of language or norms, to avoid unequal or offensive treatment with people belonging to certain groups in society. What usually motivates its use is the importance given to kindness and wanting to show consideration for others.
A group of researchers noted that diversity in the workplace brings numerous benefits to people, institutions, and society in general. And at the same time, placing importance on inclusivity and understanding different opinions and points of view can create challenges in the way people interact.
All forms of communication may require being politically correct, reflecting sensitivity or tolerance and a willingness to modify or delete specific words or actions. However, guided by personal experiences and some of their previous research, the research team suspected that the effort, monitoring, evaluation and self-control that being politically correct requires can be very tiring. That tiredness could, in turn, influence how a person interacts with others outside of work.
Methodology
To find out if being politically correct was related to depletion of cognitive resources, the team carried out a series of studies:
First study
Workers from local companies and administrative staff from two universities (N=96) were recruited, along with their partners. They were asked to fill out a survey at the beginning and end of the work day and then in the afternoon, for three weeks. Their partners completed a single survey in the afternoons.
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Results
Greater concern for their colleagues’ needs and interests was correlated with being more likely to report being politically correct at the end of the day.
Being politically correct during the day was correlated with greater depletion of cognitive resources in the afternoons. High levels of cognitive resource depletion were linked to more frequent reports of partners’ anger and withdrawal.
Second study
For the following studies, the Prolific platform was used to recruit full-time workers (N=447), who were asked to write down a recent conversation they had with a coworker. They were randomly assigned to one of two conditions:
- Write about a conversation in which you censored yourself, or felt the need to use your words carefully.
- Control condition.
Results
Full-time workers reported more depletion of cognitive resources after the conversation in which they had to be politically correct, compared to the control group.
Third study
This time the participants were university students who were asked to write a short fictitious email. In this they had to explain their personal position related to some controversial situation on campus. The students were part of one of the four conditions:
- Be politically correct.
- Not being politically correct.
- Be polite.
- No instructions were given.
After writing the email, they completed a Stroop task that aimed to measure cognitive resource depletion, specifically when naming the color of written words.
Result
People assigned to the first condition tended to have longer reaction times on the Stroop test, indicating higher levels of cognitive resource depletion.
Fourth study
The final study sought to verify that other-orientation was a good predictor of being politically correct at work. To do this, 201 workers were recruited through Prolific and asked to read a short essay on one of two topics (half of the participants read one topic and the other half read the other topic):
- About how communities came together when Hurricane Ida hit.
- About the importance of saving for retirement.
They were then asked to write a (fictitious) email to a business owner who was considering implementing a vaccine requirement for all his workers.
Results
It was observed that orientation to others was positively related to being politically correct. Participants who read about communities coming together were more likely to be politically correct in their emails.
The research team clarifies that they are not recommending that people stop being politically correct. In their studies they were able to observe that people choose to be because they care about their colleagues. That is, these behaviors are born from the desire to embrace inclusivity and kindness. However, it is important to consider the consequences of making this effort during the workday and possible ways to mitigate those consequences.
Although the factors that moderate the relationship between being politically correct and cognitive exhaustion are not clear, more studies that shed light on this would help us know how to deal with the negative effects. The team speculates that perhaps the following options could be studied:
- Mindfulness exercises.
- Focus on the positive impact of our behavior.
- Increase the practice of being politically correct, as this would make it a more automatic, less demanding behavior.
Study reference: Koopman, J., Lanaj, K., Lee, Y.E., Alterman, V., Bradley, C., & Stoverink, A.C. (2022). Walking on eggshells: A self-control perspective on workplace political correctness. Journal of Applied Psychology. Advance online publication.
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