Assuming
Are Gender-Neutral Pronouns Really Neutral? Testing a Male Bias in the Grammatical Genderless Languages Turkish and Finnish
Emma Renström et al.
Journal of Language and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Languages differ in how grammatically salient gender is. We explored if grammatically gender-neutral pronouns in Finnish and Turkish, two grammatically genderless languages, are gender neutral or male biased, thereby activating male, rather than female, exemplars. We also tested whether differences in national level gender equality influence the male bias. Results indicated a male bias in both languages, whereas national level gender equality had no influence. Implications for gender-fair language reforms in grammatically genderless languages are discussed.
The disempowering implications for members of marginalized groups of imposing a focus on personal experiences in discussions of intergroup issues
Jacquie Vorauer & Corey Petsnik
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In contrast to when members of marginalized groups choose to share their personal experiences on their own terms and in service of their own goals, when outside forces impose a focus on personal experiences in discussions of intergroup policies, there is instead the potential for disempowering implications: Being asked by someone else to approach intergroup issues through the specific lens of their personal experience may lead members of marginalized groups to sense that they are seen as the target of others’ harmful (e.g., discrimination) or benevolent (e.g., empathy) moral actions. According to research and theory on moral typecasting, perceiving a person as a target is fundamentally incompatible with perceiving them as an agent and thus is linked to lower perceived competence. Extending this theory to self-perceptions, seven studies provide evidence for an imposed experience focus effect, whereby being prompted to talk about their personal experiences (vs. reasoning) in discussions of intergroup issues reduces racialized individuals’ momentary feelings of power and power-relevant behaviors such as exerting social influence over White individuals’ opinions. Perceptions of being viewed as less competent by others or seeing themselves as less competent in the moment were consistently implicated in this effect, which was not evident for White individuals or in discussions of general topics. Asking members of marginalized groups for their opinions in an open manner, or asking about their reasoning or personal firsthand knowledge, all appear to constitute means of learning about their perspective on intergroup issues in a more empowering way.
Waist-to-Hip Ratio Predicts Sexual Perception and Responses to Sexual Assault Disclosures
Gina Paganini et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
The current work investigates the effects of target of perception’s waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) on perceivers’ judgments of sexual unrestrictedness and sexual victimization prototypicality. Studies 1a and 1b found that women with lower WHRs were perceived as relatively more sexually unrestricted. Studies 2a and 2b found that women with lower WHRs were perceived as relatively more prototypic of sexual victimization. Study 3 built on these findings to consider implications for responses to sexual assault disclosures. Perceivers disbelieved and minimized a disclosure of assault relatively more when made by a woman with a higher WHR. In sum, this body of work implicates WHR as a body cue that can inform consequential sexual perception. Thereby, this work identifies factors that could influence judgments of credibility of sexual violence reports, which may have implications for hesitancy to report sexual violence.
The Myth of Low-Income Black Fathers’ Absence From the Lives of Adolescents
Jay Fagan
Journal of Family Issues, forthcoming
Abstract:
Low-income Black fathers have been portrayed in the media and in research as uninvolved and disengaged from their children. The current study uses data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study (N = 2578) to examine adolescents’ reports of relationships and interaction with their biological fathers. The results showed there were no significant differences among Black, Hispanic, non-Hispanic White, and Other fathers for adolescents’ perceptions of closeness or interaction with fathers. After accounting for statistical controls, the association between race/ethnicity and father involvement was not significantly moderated by mother-father residential status. The results substantiate what other researchers have concluded: low-income, nonresident, and coresident Black fathers are no less involved with their children than fathers in other racial/ethnic groups.
American Indian Casinos and Native American Self-Identification
Francisca Antman & Brian Duncan
University of Colorado Working Paper, January 2023
Abstract:
This paper links Native American racial self-identification with the rise in tribal gaming across the United States. We find that state policy changes allowing tribes to open casinos are associated with an increase in the probability that individuals with American Indian ancestors will self-identify as Native American and a decrease in the probability that individuals with no American Indian ancestry will self-identify as Native American. Moreover, we find that the magnitudes of the impacts are increasing in the strength of American Indian ancestral ties. Similar results hold when causal identification comes from American Indian casino openings across states over time and suggestive evidence shows stronger impacts if casinos are likely to pay per capita dividend payments to their members. These results are consistent with a conceptual framework in which we tie racial identification to economic motivations as well as social stigma associated with affiliating with a racial group for those without documented ancestral ties. Our results underscore the importance of economic incentives and social factors underlying the individual choice of racial identity.
Economic Insecurity and the Racial Attitudes of White Americans
Cody Melcher et al.
American Politics Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
The two dominant paradigms in the study of white Americans’ racial attitudes -- symbolic racism and group position theory -- while fundamentally differing with regard to theoretical orientations and causal emphases, concur in their rejection of individual-level economic circumstances -- typically operationalized through either conventional measures of class or direct racial threats to whites’ personal lives -- as a meaningful determinant of whites’ racial attitudes. This article argues that these existing measures do not sufficiently consider the subjective dimension of individuals’ economic well-being. As such, conclusions drawn from the relative lack of association between these measures and racial attitudes are likely overstated. Utilizing a measure of affective economic insecurity -- anxiety concerning one’s economic circumstances -- a strong correlative relationship is shown to exist between this dimension of individual-level economic circumstances and whites’ racial attitudes. Specifically, it is shown that affective economic insecurity is related to whites’ level of racial resentment, their perception of racialized labor market competition, and their attitudes toward immigration. A causal relationship between affective economic insecurity and perceptions of racialized labor market competition is established through an original survey experiment.
Playing to their strengths: Can focusing on typical in-group strengths be detrimental to people of colour?
Régine Debrosse
European Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
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.
Anti-Black attitudes predict decreased concern about COVID-19 among Whites in the U.S. and Brazil
Chad Miller et al.
Social Science & Medicine, forthcoming
Abstract:
In five studies, conducted in two countries (total N = 3425), we found that anti-Black attitudes (above and beyond political orientation, White racial identification, and perceptions of racial disparities) were associated with less concern about COVID-19, lower adoption of health and social distancing behaviors, and greater interest in returning to normalcy.
Exploring gender and race biases in the NFT market
Howard Zhong & Mark Hamilton
Finance Research Letters, forthcoming
Abstract:
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are non-interchangeable assets, usually digital art, which are stored on the blockchain. Preliminary studies find that female and darker-skinned NFTs are valued less than their male and lighter-skinned counterparts. However, these studies analyze only the CryptoPunks collection. We test the statistical significance of race and gender biases in the prices of CryptoPunks and present the first study of gender bias in the broader NFT market. We find evidence of racial bias but not gender bias. Our work also introduces a dataset of gender-labeled NFT collections to advance the broader study of social equity in this emerging market.