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Racial Bias in Judgments of Physical Size and Formidability: From Size to Threat
John Paul Wilson, Kurt Hugenberg & Nicholas Rule
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Black men tend to be stereotyped as threatening and, as a result, may be disproportionately targeted by police even when unarmed. Here, we found evidence that biased perceptions of young Black men’s physical size may play a role in this process. The results of 7 studies showed that people have a bias to perceive young Black men as bigger (taller, heavier, more muscular) and more physically threatening (stronger, more capable of harm) than young White men. Both bottom-up cues of racial prototypicality and top-down information about race supported these misperceptions. Furthermore, this racial bias persisted even among a target sample from whom upper-body strength was controlled (suggesting that racial differences in formidability judgments are a product of bias rather than accuracy). Biased formidability judgments in turn promoted participants’ justifications of hypothetical use of force against Black suspects of crime. Thus, perceivers appear to integrate multiple pieces of information to ultimately conclude that young Black men are more physically threatening than young White men, believing that they must therefore be controlled using more aggressive measures.
Exposure to White Religious Iconography Influences Black Individuals’ Intragroup and Intergroup Attitudes
Simon Howard & Samuel Sommers
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, forthcoming
Method: Black participants (N = 120) were either subliminally exposed to religious images (i.e., supernatural agents or concrete religious objects) or nonreligious images (i.e., nonsupernatural agents or nonreligious objects) before their intragroup/intergroup attitudes were assessed.
Results: Exposure to images of White Jesus, but not exposure to images of generic White men, churches, or nonreligious objects increased Black individuals’ explicit pro-White attitudes. In addition, exposure to White Jesus also led to increased devaluation of the ingroup; data on implicit attitudes were more mixed.
When one’s group is beneficial: The effect of group-affirmation and subjective group identification on prejudice
Adrian Villicana, Luis Rivera & Donna Garcia
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
In three experiments, we examined whether group-affirmation reduces prejudice against outgroups. In Experiments 1 and 2, White participants completed a test of abilities then were assigned to one of three affirmation conditions. Participants either received positive feedback about their ingroup’s performance, positive feedback about their personal performance, or no feedback. Participants then provided judgments toward Blacks. Across both experiments, participants who received the ingroup performance feedback expressed the lowest levels of anti-Black prejudice, but Experiment 2 indicated this effect was limited to strongly White-identified participants. In Experiment 3, we used a different group-affirmation procedure (writing about American values) and outgroup target (Middle Easterners). Among strongly American-identified participants, those who explained why a value was important for Americans expressed lower levels of prejudice against Middle Easterners compared to those in a control condition. We suggest that affirming one’s group — or social identity — can serve as a beneficial resource in the domain of prejudice.
He Said What? Physiological and Cognitive Responses to Imagining and Witnessing Outgroup Racism
Francine Karmali, Kerry Kawakami & Elizabeth Page-Gould
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
Responses to outgroup racism can have serious implications for the perpetuation of bias, yet research examining this process is rare. The present research investigated self-reported, physiological, and cognitive responses among “experiencers” who witnessed and “forecasters” who imagined a racist comment targeting an outgroup member. Although previous research indicates that experiencers self-reported less distress and chose a racist partner more often than forecasters, the present results explored the possibility that experiencers may actually be distressed in such situation but regulate their initial affective reactions. The results from Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants in both roles showed (a) no activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal stress axis (decreased cortisol) and (b) activation of the sympathetic autonomic nervous system (increased skin conductance). However, experiencers but not forecasters displayed a physiological profile indicative of an orienting response (decreased heart rate and increased skin conductance) rather than a defensive response (increased heart rate and increased skin conductance). Furthermore, the results from Experiment 2 provided additional evidence that experiencers are not distressed or regulating their emotional responses. In particular, experiencers showed less cognitive impairment on a Stroop task than forecasters. Together these findings indicate that when people actually encounter outgroup bias, they respond with apathy and do not censure the racist.
Internalizing objectification: Objectified individuals see themselves as less warm, competent, moral, and human
Steve Loughnan et al.
British Journal of Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
People objectify others by viewing them as less warm, competent, moral, and human (Heflick & Goldenberg, 2009, J. Exp. Soc. Psychol., 45, 598; Vaes, Paladino, & Puvia, 2011, Eur. J. Soc. Psychol., 41, 774). In two studies, we examined whether the objectified share this view of themselves, internalizing their objectification. In Study 1 (N = 114), we examined sexual objectification, and in Study 2 (N = 62), we examined workplace objectification. Consistent across both studies, we found that objectification resulted in participants seeing themselves as less warm, competent, moral (Study 2 only), and lacking in human nature and human uniqueness. These effects were robust to perceiver gender and familiarity (Study 1), and whether another person or a situation caused the objectification (Study 2). In short, the objectified see themselves the manner they are seen by their objectifiers: as lacking warmth, competence, morality, and humanity.
Semantics derived automatically from language corpora contain human-like biases
Aylin Caliskan, Joanna Bryson & Arvind Narayanan
Science, 14 April 2017, Pages 183-186
Abstract:
Machine learning is a means to derive artificial intelligence by discovering patterns in existing data. Here, we show that applying machine learning to ordinary human language results in human-like semantic biases. We replicated a spectrum of known biases, as measured by the Implicit Association Test, using a widely used, purely statistical machine-learning model trained on a standard corpus of text from the World Wide Web. Our results indicate that text corpora contain recoverable and accurate imprints of our historic biases, whether morally neutral as toward insects or flowers, problematic as toward race or gender, or even simply veridical, reflecting the status quo distribution of gender with respect to careers or first names. Our methods hold promise for identifying and addressing sources of bias in culture, including technology.
When the Majority Becomes the Minority: A Longitudinal Study of the Effects of Immersive Experience With Racial Out-Group Members on Implicit and Explicit Racial Biases
Miao Qian et al.
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present study investigated the effects of immersive exposure to other-race individuals on racial bias. In Study 1, we tracked African students (N = 85) who went to study at a Chinese university and thus experienced daily contact with Chinese individuals en masse for the first time. Using a cohort-sequential longitudinal design, we found that an implicit pro-Chinese racial bias emerged within 3 months after these students arrived in China, and that this bias remained stable for at least a year. In contrast, their explicit racial bias did not change. In Study 2, we assessed another group of African students (N = 47) at 1 month and at 3 months after their arrival in China, looking at not only their implicit and explicit racial bias, but also their intergroup contact quantity, intergroup contact quality, and intergroup friendship. We found that intergroup contact quantity and intergroup friendship predicted implicit but not explicit racial bias 2 months later. The findings suggest that immersive experiences with racial out-groups can have early and lasting effects on implicit racial bias.
Predicting Ideological Prejudice
Mark Brandt
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
A major shortcoming of current models of ideological prejudice is that although they can anticipate the direction of the association between participants’ ideology and their prejudice against a range of target groups, they cannot predict the size of this association. I developed and tested models that can make specific size predictions for this association. A quantitative model that used the perceived ideology of the target group as the primary predictor of the ideology-prejudice relationship was developed with a representative sample of Americans (N = 4,940) and tested against models using the perceived status of and choice to belong to the target group as predictors. In four studies (total N = 2,093), ideology-prejudice associations were estimated, and these observed estimates were compared with the models’ predictions. The model that was based only on perceived ideology was the most parsimonious with the smallest errors.
Word Order and World Order: Titles of Intergroup Conflicts May Increase Ethnocentrism by Mentioning the In-Group First
Aileen Oeberst & Christina Matschke
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, forthcoming
Abstract:
The title of a historical event is usually the first thing we learn about that event. This article investigates whether group order in supposedly neutral conflict titles (e.g., Polish–Russian War) is systematically biased toward naming the in-group first (e.g., Polish–Russian War in Polish; Russian–Polish War in Russian) and whether group order affects perceptions of the groups involved. Based on linguistic evidence that individuals have the tendency to name themselves first, we expected and found a systematic tendency to name the in-group first in N = 172 real-world titles of historical conflicts from more than 40 languages (Study 1), under controlled conditions with participants from different cultures (Studies 2a and 2b), and in a minimal group experiment (Study 3), which identifies group membership as a crucial factor and rules out alternative explanations. Furthermore, based on findings on perception, it is predicted and found in 3 studies (Study 4, 5a, and 5b) that a group is perceived as more important when mentioned first rather than second. This effect depended, however, on group order in the questions asked. Additionally, the first group was consistently associated with more power. Combined, seemingly neutral conflict titles may therefore increase ethnocentrism as it is the in-group that is mostly mentioned first and because of that perceived as more important.
Racial Assumptions Color the Mental Representation of Social Class
Ryan Lei & Galen Bodenhausen
Frontiers in Psychology, April 2017
Abstract:
We investigated the racial content of perceivers’ mental images of different socioeconomic categories. We selected participants who were either high or low in prejudice toward the poor. These participants saw 400 pairs of visually noisy face images. Depending on condition, participants chose the face that looked like a poor person, a middle income person, or a rich person. We averaged the faces selected to create composite images of each social class. A second group of participants rated the stereotypical Blackness of these images. They also rated the face images on a variety of psychological traits. Participants high in economic prejudice produced strongly class-differentiated mental images. They imagined the poor to be Blacker than middle income and wealthy people. They also imagined them to have less positive psychological characteristics. Participants low in economic prejudice also possessed images of the wealthy that were relatively White, but they represented poor and middle class people in a less racially differentiated way. We discuss implications for understanding the intersections of race and class in social perception.
Racial Politics and Racial Self-Identification: A Case Study of Arizona, 2010-2011
Nolan Cabrera & Matthew Holliday
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, May 2017, Pages 131-149
Abstract:
This study examines the relationship between Arizona’s anti-Latina/o policies and changing patterns of racial self-identification for students at the University of Arizona. Using institutional data and the university’s Entering Student Survey, we explored trends in racial/ethnic self-identification between two cohorts of students: one before and one after the summer of 2010 (passage of SB1070, HB2281, and Proposition 107). Descriptive analyses revealed that both White and Latina/o students declined to state a racial/ethnic background at substantially higher rates after the passages of the bills. After the passage of the legislation, Latina/os used “Mexican” identifiers at substantially lower rates and “White” identifiers at substantially higher rates. Implications are discussed for racial/ethnic self-identification and higher education practice.
Engaging with diversity: Framing multiculturalism as a learning opportunity reduces prejudice among high White American identifiers
Kimberly Rios & Ashley Wynn
European Journal of Social Psychology, December 2016, Pages 854–865
Abstract:
Multiculturalism (i.e., acknowledgment and appreciation of diversity), despite its positive consequences, is often met with resistance among majority group members, particularly those whose race/ethnicity is central to their self-concept. Building upon findings that multiculturalism lowers White Americans' prejudice when presented as an abstract relative to concrete concept, we tested whether and when even concrete forms of multiculturalism can improve intergroup attitudes. Across two experiments, highly identified White Americans exhibited less racial prejudice when induced to view multiculturalism as a concrete learning opportunity than as a concrete set of policies (Study 1) or a concrete ideology more generally (Study 2). This effect was mediated by high identifiers' increased perceptions that diversity benefits themselves and society as a whole. Implications for prejudice reduction and fostering majority group members' active involvement in diversity-relevant issues, as well as the applicability of our studies to other cultural contexts, are discussed.
Imagined contact can be more effective for participants with stronger initial prejudices
Keon West, Victoria Hotchin & Chantelle Wood
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, May 2017, Pages 282–292
Abstract:
Imagined contact is an intervention that combines the prejudice-reduction of intergroup contact with the easy, low-risk application of imagery-based techniques. Accordingly, it can be applied where direct contact is difficult or risky. However, a possible limitation of imagined contact is that it may not be effective for participants with stronger initial prejudices, which would limit its usefulness and application. Two experiments (N1 = 103, N2 = 95) investigated whether initial prejudice moderated imagined contact's effects on explicit attitudes, behavioral intentions (Experiment 1), implicit attitudes, and petition-signing behaviors (Experiment 2) toward two different outgroups. In both experiments, imagined contact was more effective when initial prejudice was higher. Implications for imagined contact theory and application are discussed.
Multicultural experiences reduce prejudice through personality shifts in Openness to Experience
David Sparkman, Scott Eidelman & John Blanchar
European Journal of Social Psychology, December 2016, Pages 840–853
Abstract:
Across two studies we test the prediction that multicultural experiences reduce intercultural prejudice by increasing Openness to Experience. In Study 1, frequency of self-reported multicultural experiences was associated with greater openness and less ethnic prejudice, and openness explained the relationship between multicultural experiences and ethnic prejudice. In Study 2, we experimentally manipulated a multicultural experience. Compared to those in a control condition, participants exposed to the cultural members and elements of foreign cultures reported being higher in Openness to Experience and expressed less prejudice toward these cultural groups. There was also some evidence that multicultural exposure, through openness, caused secondary transfer effects in prejudice reduction. Our findings suggest that exposure to multicultural environments can improve intercultural attitudes by personality shifts in Openness to Experience.
Bicultural and Generalized Identity Integration Predicts Interpersonal Tolerance
Sarah Huff, Fiona Lee & Ying-yi Hong
Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
In this article, we test the hypothesis that individuals with higher levels of identity integration — or those who perceive their different social identities as more blended and harmonious — will exhibit greater interpersonal tolerance toward others holding dissimilar values and preferences. Three studies examined this hypothesis using bicultural identity integration (or perceived blendedness and harmony between multiple cultural identities) and generalized identity integration (or perceived blendedness and harmony between one’s social identities in general). We find that individuals who perceive higher levels of blendedness, but not harmony, between their social identities are more tolerant of dissimilar others, as demonstrated by making more positive trait inferences about them. We also find that experimentally increasing identity integration leads to more positive trait inferences. Our findings have theoretical and practical implications for managing conflict between individuals and groups.