A taxonomy of identity safety cues based on gender and race: From a promising past to an intersectional and translational future.

Abstract

Identity safety cues refer to aspects of the environment or social setting that communicate one is valued and the threat of discrimination is limited. In this article, we review the content of identity safety cues, their strengths and limitations, and implications for future theory, research, and practice. A close analysis of the identity safety cue literature can inform the efforts of individuals and organizations who aim to enhance social inclusion and promote diversity. Searching databases for safety cue research (e.g., Google Scholar, PsycINFO), we found more than 35 peer-reviewed articles that explicitly addressed identity safety cues. We synthesized the literature to produce a novel taxonomy of identity safety cues that target stigmatized groups, namely those minoritized by gender and race. A taxonomy of identity safety cues can facilitate clear and universal communication about the science, delineate types of operational definitions, and direct future research and theorizing. Our review revealed that knowledge of cues is often limited by unidimensional identity characteristics (i.e., targeting gender or race, not both), and we discovered four cue categories that induced identity safety: minority representation, diversity philosophies and programming, environmental features, and identity-safe information. The significance of this review is that, beyond establishing the only known taxonomy of identity safety cues, we critically examine the strengths and weaknesses of cue efficacy and provide a forward-thinking discussion of theoretical implications and broader impacts, focusing on the expansion of intersectionality theorizing and the translation of identity safety cue research.What is the significance of this article for the general public?This article accelerates knowledge for creating environments that make minoritized groups feel welcomed, valued, and protected from stigmatization. We found that the scientific literature provides four categories of effective identity safety cues (i.e., aspects of settings that communicate support and safety from stigma): having other minoritized people present, stating commitments to diversity, displaying physical features that signal inclusive norms and values, and providing information that conveys fair and positive expectations.

Signaling sizeism: An assessment of body size‐based threat and safety cues

“…To some extent, this is expected. Both cue categories derive from experimental laboratory studies with manipulations that, although effective in the context of gender and race (Kruk & Matsick, in press), may not be salient for people asked to spontaneously generate examples of safety cues they have encountered based on body size and weight. The fact that coders did not identify examples of these cue types in these data suggests that these types of cues are either not prevalent or are not salient in ecologically valid settings for fat people.…”

“…Our exploratory coding scheme therefore suggests a shared response to safety cues across identities. As argued in Kruk and Matsick (in press), safety cue literature would greatly benefit from expanding from a narrow focus on gender and race‐based cues into a large variety of stigmatized identities, like fat, sexual minority, and disabled identities. One way to do this is to identify cue classifications that are efficacious for multiple stigmatized identities.…”

“…First, we used thematic analysis to code open‐ended responses to ascertain common themes in participants’ experiences of threat and safety cues. Second, we undertook exploratory deductive coding to code responses to the safety cue prompt into safety cue classifications as presented by Kruk and Matsick (in press). This approach situated weight‐based safety cues in the broader identity safety literature.…”

“…An emerging area of cue research within SIT is identity safety cues : aspects of the environment or social setting that communicate one's identity is valued and that the threat of discrimination is limited (Chaney et al., 2019; Kruk & Matsick, in press). Safety cues are the complement to threat cues in that they communicate safety and belonging – rather than potential discrimination – to people with stigmatized identities.…”

“…Kruk and Matsick (in press) provided a comprehensive examination of the identity safety cue literature, identifying a novel taxonomy of four types of safety cues. Minority representation cues manipulate the presence of those with a stigmatized identity either in number or rank.…”