Mary Church Terrell’s functional diversion hypothesis: Exposure to the cultural image of the poor white bigot reduces perceived gentrifier racism

Building on critical cultural approaches to racism—including Phillips and Lowery’s theory of herd invisibility—we tested Mary Church Terrell’s Functional Diversion Hypothesis: the idea that the cultural image of the poor white bigot creates perceptual invisibility for the most privileged white individuals, particularly when they engage in actions that uphold, construct racist systems and personal benefit. Across three experiments, activating the “poor white bigot” prototype reduced perceptions of racism in gentrifiers who engaged in acts of displacement, exclusion, and gatekeeping in the housing market—actions that disproportionately harmed Black individuals and communities. While the focus was on white participants (Experiments 1–3), Functional Diversion was also observed in Black participants (Experiment 3). A cumulative meta-analysis revealed a small but reliable effect (Cohen’s d = .34; 95% CI of Cohen’s d = [.17, .51], p < .001), consistent with the median effect size in psychological science. Results are discussed in terms of cultural mechanisms of invisibility, the psychological function of racist prototypes, and how such imagery may shield contemporary racist systems, political movements, and individuals from scrutiny.