Something isn’t working.
Across the country, diversity programs are being dismantled and defunded, even as the need for racial justice grows more urgent. In this cultural moment, many people want to engage across differences—but many feel paralyzed, anxious, or unsure of where to begin.
How can we talk about racial justice in a way that invites courage, builds connection, and gives people a path forward?
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In a study published in The Journal of Positive Psychology, we found that when white students reflected on courage and patience in interracial interactions, acting in non-prejudicial ways became significantly more important to them. We’ve come to believe that these virtues may be critical tools in the fight against prejudice.
Staving off defensiveness
When training on racial or implicit bias has been studied, results have been mixed. Educational sessions that raise awareness of microaggressions or implicit bias can be helpful, but they often don’t offer a vision for who participants want to become. In some cases—especially when sessions feel mandatory—participants, particularly white students, may experience race-related anxiety or fear of “getting it wrong,” which can lead them to feel defensive or disengage.
Some of the broader backlash to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts may also stem from these emotional dynamics. Research by Eric D. Knowles and his colleagues suggests that for many white participants, DEI conversations can trigger underlying identity threats—like doubts about whether their success is fully earned or discomfort with being part of a racially advantaged group. These types of anxiety further complicate engagement, and can lead to avoidance.
Simply engaging in interracial interactions or opening conversations about diversity without a constructive framework may leave white students unsure or overwhelmed. They may walk away conflicted rather than convicted.
That’s where cultivating virtues comes in.
Reframing a threat as an opportunity
Our team wanted to explore whether these time-honored virtues could offer students a positive path forward—not just for what not to do, but for how to show up when interracial dynamics or racial injustice become uncomfortable.
In our study, we randomly assigned 292 white college students to one of four different groups, where they read stories ostensibly written by other students:
- A virtue-plus-race group, who read stories featuring courage and patience in interracial interactions
- A virtue-only group, who read about student interactions without racialized content
- A race-only group, who read about student interracial interactions without courage and patience being featured
- A control group, who read neutral content
In the first group, stories about cultivating courage and patience in interracial contexts offered students a positive, action-oriented roadmap. This group of short student narratives illustrated how virtues could guide ordinary moments of discomfort, misunderstanding, or racial tension. Rather than presenting courage and patience as lofty ideals, these stories presented virtues as everyday practices that help students stay engaged across differences. For example, in one story, a white student realized he had hurt a friend with a careless racialized joke and later chose to be courageous, apologize, and listen patiently, instead of reacting defensively.
Brief sets of narratives like this gave participants concrete, peer-based examples of what these virtues look like in practice in interracial interactions. Students read these narratives and then reflected on how they might act similarly, offering them a chance to think about how they want to show up, rather than what they should avoid. We wanted to see if reframing interracial interactions not as threats but as opportunities to grow could shift attitudes. And it did.
Although the exercise didn’t make students more courageous or patient overall (which may have been difficult to measure), one group stood out. Students who read stories about courage and patience in interracial contexts and then reflected on them showed a boost in their motivation to respond to others without prejudice. This type of motivation is an important predictor of more inclusive behavior in the future.
It appears that courage and patience gave students a lens for approaching difficult conversations or situations. Instead of shutting down or reacting defensively, they had opportunities to ask: What would it look like to be courageous or patient in this moment? What might I do?
Here’s the catch—simply promoting virtues in general wasn’t enough. Only when students considered courage and patience in explicitly interracial contexts did their motivation to respond in non-prejudicial ways improve.
In addition, students who read stories of interracial interactions without virtue framing saw declines in both their courage and motivation to respond without prejudice. This was one of our most sobering findings: Simply raising race-related concerns without a hopeful path forward may backfire. This suggests that surfacing racial issues alone may not be enough—we also need frameworks that foster character growth.
Our intervention was developed by Madison Kawakami Gilbertson, Juliette Ratchford, and the Science of Virtues Lab at Baylor University, led by Sarah Schnitker, who created the initial intervention and prototypes used in this study.
Rethinking how we engage white students in racial justice
Courage and patience may seem like an unlikely pair, but philosophical and psychological research suggests they are complementary, perhaps even siblings. Courage without patience can lead to impulsivity; patience without courage can become passive. Together, they support wise action when discomfort or threat arises—like navigating awkward or emotionally charged conversations about race.
Previous studies have found that people who are patient tend to have more persistence and greater well-being, whereas courage helps people face fear-inducing situations. In our study, courage may have helped students believe they could initiate interracial interactions, and patience may have helped them believe that they could stay engaged even when they felt anxious.
We don’t see cultivating virtues as a silver bullet. The benefits we observed lasted about a month, and we only assessed people’s reports of their own attitudes and motivations.
Still, we believe this points to a promising way forward. In a time when DEI has become politicized and polarizing, our findings suggest that a virtue-based approach may encourage resilience It could be especially relevant in institutions or communities where terms like “privilege” or “systemic racism” can trigger pushback.
Where DEI efforts are being curtailed by legislation or institutional pressure, a focus on character and virtue can reopen conversations that might otherwise be shut down. It invites people into the conversation—by affirming their desire to grow and do good.
Virtues like courage and patience may also provide potential pathways to bridge ideological divides. Virtue development doesn’t minimize racial injustice—it helps people show up to it with integrity and invites people to engage by becoming better versions of themselves.
Toward a more just and virtuous society
So, what can educators, facilitators, or anyone invested in diversity and racial justice take away from this?
Start with character, not just content. Help students explore the kind of people they want to become. Reflecting on what virtues are needed in interracial dynamics can help people be more engaged and less defensive.
Model virtuous behavior. Share real-life stories of courage and patience across racial difference. Help students visualize what these virtues look like in their everyday lives and actions.
Make race salient—but frame it with growth. Don’t shy away from hard topics. Encourage students to act with courage, persevere with patience, and view racial dynamics not as landmines to avoid but as moments for moral development.
Encourage reflection. Invite students to write about their values, intentions, and purpose. Help them consider how they want to “show up” in diverse relationships—not just in the classroom, but in their lives. Interracial interactions can become opportunities for openness.
Moving forward, we want to explore how other virtues or nuances to these virtues—like civil courage, humility, generosity, compassion, or justice—might also be beneficial. We also want to examine whether this approach can lead to long-term changes in behavior and whether it works outside U.S. college campuses.
Practically, this framework could be integrated into bias training or broader virtue curricula—giving students the psychological and moral tools to engage issues of race and racial justice with both conviction and care.
Our findings suggest that courage and patience aren’t just lofty ideals. They are practical tools for confronting bias and cultivating justice. By tapping into students’ desire to grow, we can foster new pathways to work toward racial justice.
