Playing to their strengths: Can focusing on typical in-group strengths be detrimental to people of colour?

With increasing awareness about racism, portrayals of communities of colour are shifting away from negative representations. Emphasizing their strengths could counter negative stereotypes about who they are and low expectations for who they can be, but could also backfire. In two experiments centring adolescents (n = 198) and adults of colour (n = 321), the effect of reflecting on a typical strength was moderated by perceived misalignments between racial/ethnic and ideal future selves (i.e., ethnic-ideal self-discrepancy). For participants perceiving them as aligned, reflecting on a typical in-group strength reduced actual-ideal self-discrepancy. However, for participants perceiving them as misaligned, reflecting on a typical in-group strength increased actual-ideal self-discrepancy. Reflecting on a typical strength also indirectly influenced engagement, through actual-ideal self-discrepancy. Reflecting on an atypical in-group strength did not yield significant effects. Thus, emphasizing typical aspects of stigmatized communities, even when positive, sometimes impede identity and motivation.