Seeing a difference
Racial Disparities in Incarceration Increase Acceptance of Punitive Policies
Rebecca Hetey & Jennifer Eberhardt
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
During the past few decades, punitive crime policies have led to explosive growth in the United States prison population. Such policies have contributed to unprecedented incarceration rates for Blacks in particular. In this article, we consider an unexamined relationship between racial disparities and policy reform. Rather than treating racial disparities as an outcome to be measured, we exposed people to real and extreme racial disparities and observed how this drove their support for harsh criminal-justice policies. In two experiments, we manipulated the racial composition of prisons: When the penal institution was represented as "more Black," people were more concerned about crime and expressed greater acceptance of punitive policies than when the penal institution was represented as "less Black." Exposure to extreme racial disparities, then, can lead people to support the very policies that produce those disparities, thus perpetuating a vicious cycle.
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Lance Hannon
Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, August 2014, Pages 265-283
Abstract:
Using the 2012 American National Election Study, the present article explored the relationship between interviewers' assessment of respondent skin tone and their perception of respondent intelligence (n = 459). Results from logistic regression analyses indicated that Hispanic respondents with the lightest skin were several times more likely to be seen as having high intelligence compared with those with the darkest skin. Importantly, this relationship was independent of respondent self-identified race, educational attainment, vocabulary test score, and several other respondent and interviewer characteristics. Implications for the growing body of research on colorism are discussed.
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Tessa West et al.
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present longitudinal study examined the complex role of race - including racial attitudes and visual representations of race - in White Americans' responses to Obama during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Consistent with prior research, participants who perceived Obama as darker skinned were less likely to vote for him and generally evaluated Obama less positively. It is important to note, however, that these effects were stronger among Whites with more egalitarian expressed racial attitudes. Moreover, this pattern occurred over and above effects of political orientation and remained stable over a 2-month period, including pre- and postelection. Implications of these findings for understanding the complex and persistent influence of race in politics are considered.
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Americans Fill Out President Obama's Census Form: What is His Race?
Jack Citrin, Morris Levy & Robert Van Houweling
Social Science Quarterly, forthcoming
Objective: We use nationally representative survey experiments to assess public opinion about how President Obama should have identified himself racially on the 2010 Census.
Methods: Respondents were randomly assigned to three conditions -a control, a treatment that described the president's biracial ancestry, and a treatment that combined the biracial ancestry information with a statement that Obama had in fact classified himself as black only. All respondents were then asked how they felt Obama should have filled out his Census form.
Results: A clear majority of Americans in all experimental conditions said that Obama should have identified himself as both black and white.
Conclusion: There appears to be suggesting robust acceptance of official multiracial identification despite the cultural and legal legacy of the "one drop of blood" rule in official U.S. race categorization. A subsequent survey experiment found that a convenience sample of Americans support multiracial identification for mixed-race individuals generally and not only for the president.
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The Rules of Implicit Evaluation by Race, Religion, and Age
Jordan Axt, Charles Ebersole & Brian Nosek
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
The social world is stratified. Social hierarchies are known but often disavowed as anachronisms or unjust. Nonetheless, hierarchies may persist in social memory. In three studies (total N > 200,000), we found evidence of social hierarchies in implicit evaluation by race, religion, and age. Participants implicitly evaluated their own racial group most positively and the remaining racial groups in accordance with the following hierarchy: Whites > Asians > Blacks > Hispanics. Similarly, participants implicitly evaluated their own religion most positively and the remaining religions in accordance with the following hierarchy: Christianity > Judaism > Hinduism or Buddhism > Islam. In a final study, participants of all ages implicitly evaluated age groups following this rule: children > young adults > middle-age adults > older adults. These results suggest that the rules of social evaluation are pervasively embedded in culture and mind.
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Paul Adachi et al.
Psychology of Violence, forthcoming
Objective: Video games increasingly have become multiplayer, and thus online video game players have the unique opportunity to cooperate with players from all over the world, including those who belong to different social groups. Consistent with research showing that intergroup cooperation leads to reductions in intergroup bias, playing a video game cooperatively with a member of a different social group (i.e., an outgroup member) may reduce bias. The goal of the current study, therefore, was to test whether playing a violent video game cooperatively with an outgroup member reduces intergroup bias toward that partner's group.
Method: In our investigation, Canadians (n = 138) played a violent video game cooperatively with an outgroup (American) or ingroup member against alien (i.e., zombie-like) enemies.
Results: Cooperating with an outgroup member in a violent context for only 12 minutes generated large reductions in outgroup prejudice.
Conclusions: Our findings highlight the potential for even violent video games to serve as prejudice interventions.
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Selective Attention to In- and Out-Group Members Systematically Influences Intergroup Bias
Torsten Martiny-Huenger, Peter Gollwitzer & Gabriele Oettingen
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We analyzed whether attending to versus ignoring in- and out-group members systematically influences intergroup bias. In two studies (N = 187), we manipulated attention by asking participants to count the appearance of in-group (or out-group) members in the presence of out-group (or in-group) distractors. Prior to and during the counting task, we assessed intergroup bias by having participants rate the group members on a liking scale. The results show that the change in intergroup bias from baseline to experimental ratings depended on the attention focus. Whereas counting in-group members (while ignoring the out-group) increased intergroup bias, counting out-group members (while ignoring the in-group) decreased intergroup bias. Thus, we provide evidence that consequences of goal-directed interactions with in- and out-group stimuli (i.e., exposure and selection) systematically influence intergroup bias. We propose that in future research these processes should be considered in addition to social-motivational factors in the analysis of intergroup bias.
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Direct-to-Consumer Racial Admixture Tests and Beliefs About Essential Racial Differences
Jo Phelan et al.
Social Psychology Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Although at first relatively disinterested in race, modern genomic research has increasingly turned attention to racial variations. We examine a prominent example of this focus - direct-to-consumer racial admixture tests - and ask how information about the methods and results of these tests in news media may affect beliefs in racial differences. The reification hypothesis proposes that by emphasizing a genetic basis for race, thereby reifying race as a biological reality, the tests increase beliefs that whites and blacks are essentially different. The challenge hypothesis suggests that by describing differences between racial groups as continua rather than sharp demarcations, the results produced by admixture tests break down racial categories and reduce beliefs in racial differences. A nationally representative survey experiment (N = 526) provided clear support for the reification hypothesis. The results suggest that an unintended consequence of the genomic revolution may be to reinvigorate age-old beliefs in essential racial differences.
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Yanyi Djamba & Sitawa Kimuna
Journal of Black Studies, September 2014, Pages 528-544
Abstract:
This study transcends general opinion reports and uses data from the General Social Survey (GSS) to examine responses on attitudinal questions about how Black and White Americans actually feel about their close relative marrying outside their own race. The results show that more than half (54%) of Black Americans are in favor of their close relative marrying a White person compared with nearly one-in-four (26%) White Americans who said they were in favor of their close relative marrying a Black person. Such results suggest that questions about how individuals feel when close relatives engage into Black-White marriage provide better measures of attitude toward racial exogamy. Logistic regression models are analyzed to determine how socio-demographic factors influence Black and White Americans' views on interracial marriage of their close relatives.
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The greatest magic of Harry Potter: Reducing prejudice
Loris Vezzali et al.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Recent research shows that extended contact via story reading is a powerful strategy to improve out-group attitudes. We conducted three studies to test whether extended contact through reading the popular best-selling books of Harry Potter improves attitudes toward stigmatized groups (immigrants, homosexuals, refugees). Results from one experimental intervention with elementary school children and from two cross-sectional studies with high school and university students (in Italy and United Kingdom) supported our main hypothesis. Identification with the main character (i.e., Harry Potter) and disidentification from the negative character (i.e., Voldemort) moderated the effect. Perspective taking emerged as the process allowing attitude improvement. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed in the context of extended intergroup contact and social cognitive theory.
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Cesalie Stepney, Diana Sanchez & Phillip Handy
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present study examined the relationship of perceived parental closeness and parental ethnic identity on personal ethnic identity and colorblindness beliefs in 275 part-White biracial Americans (M age = 23.88). Respondents completed online measures of their personal ethnic identity (minority, White, and multiracial), perceived parental ethnic identity, parental closeness, and attitudes about the state of race relations and the need for social action in the United States. Using path modeling, results show that part-White biracial individuals perceive their ethnic identity to be strongly linked to their parental racial identities, especially when they had closer parental relationships. Moreover, stronger minority identity was linked to less colorblind attitudes, and greater White identity was linked to greater colorblind attitudes suggesting that patterns of identity may influence how biracial individuals view race-relations and the need for social action. Implications for biracial well-being and their understanding of prejudice and discrimination are discussed.
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Jasmin Cloutier, Tianyi Li & Joshua Correll
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, September 2014, Pages 1992-2004
Abstract:
Given the well-documented involvement of the amygdala in race perception, the current study aimed to investigate how interracial contact during childhood shapes amygdala response to racial outgroup members in adulthood. Of particular interest was the impact of childhood experience on amygdala response to familiar, compared with novel, Black faces. Controlling for a number of well-established individual difference measures related to interracial attitudes, the results reveal that perceivers with greater childhood exposure to racial outgroup members display greater relative reduction in amygdala response to familiar Black faces. The implications of such findings are discussed in the context of previous investigations into the neural substrates of race perception and in consideration of potential mechanisms by which childhood experience may shape race perception.
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Essentializing Ethnicity: Identification Constraint Reduces Diversity Interest
Tiane Lee, Leigh Wilton & Virginia Kwan
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, November 2014, Pages 194-200
Abstract:
The present research investigates the effects of a subtle essentialist cue: restricting individuals to identify with only one ethnicity. Although this constraint is mundane and commonly used in everyday life, it sends a message of essentialized group differences. Three studies illustrate the harmful impact of this essentialist cue on diversity. Studies 1a and 1b show that it decreases Asian-Americans' desire to participate in ethnicity-related activities. Study 2 reveals that it reduces essentialist European-Americans' desire for friendship with a minority target. Study 3 illustrates the mechanism through which an essentialist cue reduces intergroup contact, with perceivers' chronic beliefs moderating this effect. Together, these findings demonstrate the powerful impact of the seemingly small act of how we ask people to identify with an ethnic group.
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Exploring implicit ingroup and outgroup bias toward Hispanics
David March & Reiko Graham
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
Racial and ethnic biases often manifest without awareness. The underlying causes of these attitudes are not fully understood. While outgroup bias is well studied, ingroup bias has received far less attention. We examined ingroup biases among Hispanic women and outgroup biases toward Hispanics among White (Caucasian non-Hispanic) females using the startle eyeblink paradigm, the Implicit Association Test (IAT), and an explicit self-report measure. Hispanic and White male faces were used as exemplars during both the startle task and the IAT. A similar pattern of results were observed for indirect measures: both groups displayed startle and IAT responses indicative of negative attitudes toward Hispanic male faces relative to White male faces, although less so for Hispanic participants. Combined groups correlational analyses revealed a significant positive relationship between startle eyeblink amplitude and subtle subscale bias scores. However, no relationships were found between any measures when groups were examined separately. The comparable pattern of startle and IAT results suggests that in spite of the likelihood that these measures index different aspects of attitudes and tap into different processes, inter and intragroup biases are manifested similarly. The finding of negative ingroup biases among Hispanic females is consistent with system justification theory, which posits that members of devalued groups internalize negative stereotypes about their ingroup. This study extends startle eyeblink research of intergroup racial biases, while also expanding this line of research to intragroup biases. In doing so, these results add to our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the persistent nature of stereotypes.
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A Happy Face Advantage With Male Caucasian Faces: It Depends on the Company You Keep
Ottmar Lipp, Belinda Craig & Mylyn Dat
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Happy faces are categorized faster as "happy" than angry faces as "angry," the happy face advantage. Here, we show across three experiments that the size of the happy face advantage for male Caucasian faces varies as a function of the other faces they are presented with. A happy face advantage was present if the male Caucasian faces were presented among male African American faces, but absent if the same faces were presented among female faces, Caucasian or African American. The modulation of the happy face advantage for male Caucasian faces was observed even if the female Caucasian/male African American faces had neutral expressions. This difference in the happy face advantage for a constant set of faces as a function of the other faces presented indicates that it does not reflect on a stimulus-dependent bottom-up process but on the evaluation of the expressive faces within a specific context.
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The Spontaneous Formation of Stereotypes via Cumulative Cultural Evolution
Douglas Martin et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
All people share knowledge of cultural stereotypes of social groups - but what are the origins of these stereotypes? We examined whether stereotypes form spontaneously as information is repeatedly passed from person to person. As information about novel social targets was passed down a chain of individuals, what initially began as a set of random associations evolved into a system that was simplified and categorically structured. Over time, novel stereotypes emerged that not only were increasingly learnable but also allowed generalizations to be made about previously unseen social targets. By illuminating how cognitive and social factors influence how stereotypes form and change, these findings show how stereotypes might naturally evolve or be manipulated.
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The Inherence Heuristic as a Source of Essentialist Thought
Erika Salomon & Andrei Cimpian
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
Humans are essentialists: They believe hidden "essences" underlie membership in natural and social kinds. Although essentialism has well-established implications for important societal issues (e.g., discrimination), little is known about its origins. According to a recent proposal, essentialism emerges from a broader inherence heuristic - an intuitive tendency to explain patterns in terms of the inherent properties of their constituents (e.g., we have orange juice for breakfast [pattern] because citrus aromas [inherent feature] wake us up). We tested two predictions of this proposal - that reliance on the inherence heuristic predicts endorsement of essentialist beliefs, even when adjusting for potentially confounding variables (Studies 1 and 2), and that reducing reliance on the inherence heuristic produces a downstream reduction in essentialist thought (Studies 3 and 4). The results were consistent with these predictions and thus provided evidence for a new theoretical perspective on the cognitive underpinnings of psychological essentialism.