On the Bias
Aneeta Rattan & Jennifer Eberhardt
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Without visual attention, even the obvious - like a gorilla walking through a scene of people - goes undetected (Mack & Rock, 1998; Simons & Chabris, 1999). This 'inattentional blindness' is a persistent, well-documented limitation of the human visual system. The current research examines whether social meaning reduces this visual bias by imbuing unexpected objects with signal value, thus increasing their relevance and facilitating perception. Using one of the most established illustrations of inattentional blindness, we show for the first time that activating a social association, even an erroneous one (i.e., the African American-ape association), drastically attenuates inattentional blindness. This is not accounted for by visual feature matching. Rather, these results suggest that social meaning, even when flawed, may direct our visual system towards associated visual information that would otherwise be overlooked. As such, these results provide a powerful replication of the African American-ape association and illustrate that this broadly held association has the power to spontaneously change the content of one's visual world.
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Corinne Moss-Racusin, Julie Phelan & Laurie Rudman
Political Psychology, August 2010, Pages 543-561
Abstract:
The historic 2008 Democratic presidential primary race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton posed a difficult choice for egalitarian White voters, and many commentators speculated that the election outcome would reflect pitting the effects of racism against sexism (Steinem, 2008). Because self-reported prejudices may be untrustworthy, we used the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess White adults' (1) condemnation of prejudices, and (2) attitudes toward the candidates in relation to voting decisions, as part of an online survey. Results supported the proposed compensatory egalitarianism process, such that Whites' voting choice was consistent with their implicit candidate preference, but in an effort to remain egalitarian, participants compensated for this preference by automatically condemning prejudice toward the other candidate's group. Additional findings showed that this process was moderated by participants' ethnicity and level of prejudice, as expected. Specifically, compensatory egalitarianism occurred primarily among Whites and individuals low in explicit prejudice. Implications for candidate support, aversive racism theory, and implicit compensation processes are discussed.
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Prejudice at the nexus of race and gender: An outgroup male target hypothesis
Carlos David Navarrete, Melissa McDonald, Ludwin Molina & Jim Sidanius
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, June 2010, Pages 933-945
Abstract:
Adopting an evolutionary approach to the psychology of race bias, we posit that intergroup conflict perpetrated by male aggressors throughout human evolutionary history has shaped the psychology of modern forms of intergroup bias and that this psychology reflects the unique adaptive problems that differ between men and women in coping with male aggressors from groups other than one's own. Here we report results across 4 studies consistent with this perspective, showing that race bias is moderated by gender differences in traits relevant to threat responses that differ in their adaptive utility between the sexes - namely, aggression and dominance motives for men and fear of sexual coercion for women. These results are consistent with the notion that the psychology of intergroup bias is generated by different psychological systems for men and women, and the results underscore the importance of considering the gender of the outgroup target as well as the gender of the agent in psychological studies on prejudice and discrimination.
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Concerns about appearing prejudiced: Implications for anxiety during daily interracial interactions
Nicole Shelton, Tessa West & Thomas Trail
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, May 2010, Pages 329-344
Abstract:
We investigated the relationship between Whites' and ethnic minorities' concerns about appearing prejudiced and anxiety during daily interracial interactions. College roommate pairs completed an individual difference measure of concerns about appearing prejudiced at the beginning of the semester. Then they completed measures of anxiety and perceptions of their roommates' anxiety-related behaviors for 15 days. Results indicated that among interracial roommate pairs, Whites' and ethnic minorities' concerns about appearing prejudiced were related to their self-reported anxiety on a daily basis; but this was not the case among same-race roommate pairs. In addition, among interracial roommate pairs, roommates who were concerned about appearing prejudiced began to "leak" their anxiety towards the end of the diary period, as indicated by their out-group roommate who perceived their anxious behaviors as increasing across time, and who consequently liked them less. The implications of these findings for intergroup relations are discussed in this article.
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Power, Individuation, and the Cross-Race Recognition Deficit
Edwin Shriver & Kurt Hugenberg
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The well-known Cross-Race Effect (CRE) in facial recognition is observed as better recognition for faces of one's own race than faces of another race. Across two experiments, this very robust phenomenon was attenuated via an increase in cross-race (CR) recognition when CR targets were perceived as wielding power either because of their occupational roles (Experiment 1) or the behaviors in which they engaged (Experiment 2). Furthermore, evidence in Experiment 2 indicates that neither target stereotypicality nor target valence can easily explain the observed increase in CR recognition. These results conform closely to predictions derived from a social-cognitive model of the Cross-Race Effect.
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When inequality matters: The effect of inequality frames on academic engagement
Brian Lowery & Daryl Wout
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, June 2010, Pages 956-966
Abstract:
Research indicates that, among women and ethnic minorities, perceived inequality reduces the association between self-esteem and academic outcomes. The present studies demonstrate that the perception of social inequality does not always induce subordinate-group disengagement. Rather, inequality framed as dominant-group advantage allows subordinate groups to remain engaged and causes dominant groups to disengage. Experiments 1-3 demonstrate that academic inequality framed in terms of ingroup disadvantage causes Black, Latino, and female students to disengage, but inequality framed in terms of White or male advantage does not. Experiments 3 and 4 demonstrate the same effect for Whites and men-inequality framed in terms of the ingroup (i.e., advantage) causes disengagement, but inequality framed as outgroup disadvantage does not.
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Racial Bias Reduces Empathic Sensorimotor Resonance with Other-Race Pain
Alessio Avenanti, Angela Sirigu & Salvatore Aglioti
Current Biology, 8 June 2010, Pages 1018-1022
Abstract:
Although social psychology studies suggest that racism often manifests itself as a lack of empathy, i.e., the ability to share and comprehend others' feelings and intentions, evidence for differential empathic reactivity to the pain of same- or different-race individuals is meager. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation, we explored sensorimotor empathic brain responses in black and white individuals who exhibited implicit but not explicit ingroup preference and race-specific autonomic reactivity. We found that observing the pain of ingroup models inhibited the onlookers' corticospinal system as if they were feeling the pain. Both black and white individuals exhibited empathic reactivity also when viewing the pain of stranger, very unfamiliar, violet-hand models. By contrast, no vicarious mapping of the pain of individuals culturally marked as outgroup members on the basis of their skin color was found. Importantly, group-specific lack of empathic reactivity was higher in the onlookers who exhibited stronger implicit racial bias. These results indicate that human beings react empathically to the pain of stranger individuals. However, racial bias and stereotypes may change this reactivity into a group-specific lack of sensorimotor resonance.
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Do You See What I Am? How Observers' Backgrounds Affect Their Perceptions of Multiracial Faces
Melissa Herman
Social Psychology Quarterly, March 2010, Pages 58-78
Abstract:
Although race is one of the most salient status characteristics in American society, many observers cannot distinguish the racial ancestries of multiracial youth. This paper examines how people perceive multiracial adolescents: specifically, I investigate whether observers perceive the adolescents as multiracial and whether these racial perceptions are congruent with the multiracial adolescents' self-identifications. Results show that 1) observers perceived close to half of multiracial targets as monoracial, 2) multiracial targets who identified themselves as black were nearly always perceived as black but not always as multiracial, and 3) the demographic and environmental characteristics of observers had no bearing on the congruence of their racial perceptions. That is, regardless of their own demographic characteristics or exposure to people of other races, observers were more congruent when examining targets who self-identified as black or white and less congruent when identifying targets from Asian, Hispanic, American Indian, or Middle Eastern backgrounds. Despite the demographic trend toward multiracialism in the United States, observers' perceptions may maintain the status quo in race relations: a black-white dichotomy where part-blacks remain in the collective black category.
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Katie McLaughlin, Mark Hatzenbuehler & Katherine Keyes
American Journal of Public Health, August 2010, Pages 1477-1484
Objectives: We examined associations between perceived discrimination due to race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender; responses to discrimination experiences; and psychiatric disorders.
Methods: The sample included respondents in the 2004-2005 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (n=34653). We analyzed the associations between self-reported past-year discrimination and past-year psychiatric disorders as assessed with structured diagnostic interviews among Black (n=6587); Hispanic (n=6359); lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB; n=577); and female (n=20089) respondents.
Results: Black respondents reported the highest levels of past-year discrimination, followed by LGB, Hispanic, and female respondents. Across groups, discrimination was associated with 12-month mood (odds ratio [ORs]=2.1-3.1), anxiety (ORs=1.8-3.3), and substance use (ORs=1.6-3.5) disorders. Respondents who reported not accepting discrimination and not discussing it with others had higher odds of psychiatric disorders (ORs=2.9-3.9) than did those who did not accept discrimination but did discuss it with others. Black respondents and women who accepted discrimination and did not talk about it with others had elevated rates of mood and anxiety disorders, respectively.
Conclusions: Psychiatric disorders are more prevalent among individuals reporting past-year discrimination experiences. Certain responses to discrimination, particularly not disclosing it, are associated with psychiatric morbidity.
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Cassie Eno & David Ewoldsen
Media Psychology, January 2010, Pages 1-30
Abstract:
The present research focused on how explicitly and implicitly measured attitudes toward Blacks influenced interpretations of film and how film, in turn, influenced explicitly and implicitly measured attitudes toward Blacks. In Study 1, explicit and implicit attitudes toward Blacks were measured online, and participants later watched the film Remember the Titans and made judgments about the film. Explicitly measured attitudes influenced participants' global reactions to the film and interpretations of events within the film. In Study 2, participants completed explicit and implicit measures in the lab and, one week later, watched either the film Rosewood or a control film, made judgments about the film, and completed explicit and implicit measures for a second time. Implicitly measured attitudes influenced interpretation of some specific judgments about the film. Additionally, participants who viewed Rosewood showed less implicitly measured prejudice, more pro-Black attitudes, and less explicitly measured prejudice after viewing the film. Results are discussed in terms of the MODE model-a dual process model of judgment and behavior.
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Daryl Wout, Mary Murphy & Claude Steele
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Prior research suggests that people expect to be perceived negatively in inter-racial interactions, but positively in intra-racial interactions. The present research demonstrates that an interaction partner's racial network of friends can moderate these expectations in inter-racial interactions, but not intra-racial interactions. Across two experiments we led Black and White college students to believe they would have conversation with a White student on campus. The results revealed that Black students expected to be perceived more positively, and anticipated a less challenging conversation, when their interaction partner had a racially diverse network of friends compared to a racially homogeneous network of friends. In contrast, White students expected to be perceived positively, and anticipated few challenges in the conversation, regardless of their interaction partner's racial network of friends. The implications of racial friendship diversity are discussed.
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Paul Poteat & Lisa Spanierman
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, July 2010, Pages 495-514
Abstract:
The authors used multilevel modeling to examine whether peer group ideological beliefs (n = 109 friendship groups) predicted the homophobic and racist attitudes of other individuals within the group (n = 395 college students). Results indicated that the social dominance orientation (SDO), right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), and universal-diverse orientation (UDO) ideological beliefs of peers predicted the prejudiced attitudes of other group members, over and above individuals' own ideological views. Additionally, the strength with which individuals' own ideological beliefs predicted their prejudiced attitudes varied systematically across peer groups. Affiliations with high-RWA peers strengthened the extent to which individuals' own SDO and RWA predicted their prejudiced attitudes. Results suggest the ideological beliefs of peers are relevant to predicting the prejudiced attitudes of the individuals with whom they affiliate. Although specific peer ideologies differentially predicted forms of prejudice, the overall contribution of these peer ideology beliefs to the prediction of individuals' prejudiced attitudes was comparable for both homophobic and racist attitudes. Attention to proximal social networks and the social dynamics within these networks can contribute to better explanations of individual differences in prejudiced attitudes.