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Some evidence for the nonverbal contagion of racial bias
Greg Willard, Kyonne-Joy Isaac & Dana Carney
Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, forthcoming
Abstract:
Four experiments provide evidence for the hypothesis that we can “catch” racial bias from others by merely observing subtle nonverbal cues. Video recordings were made of white participants (with varying levels of racial bias) interacting with a neutral black confederate. Videos contained subtle expressions of positivity or negativity, corresponding to white participants’ levels of bias. Participants randomly assigned to observe the subtle anti-black bias videos (vs. pro-black) formed more negative impressions of the black person (Experiment 1), adopted more negative racial stereotypes (Experiment 2), and demonstrated greater anti-black bias themselves (Experiment 3). Participants only demonstrated increased bias when they knew that a black person was the target (vs. white; Experiment 4). Results suggest that nonverbal expressions of racial bias affect more than simply the actor and target — they affect passive, naïve observers. The good news, however, is that the same is true of pro-black bias. Implications for organizations are discussed.
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Imagining oneself in a stereotyped role may stifle generalized tendencies to support social change
Laura Di Bella & Richard Crisp
Social Influence, Summer 2015, Pages 157-167
Abstract:
Imagining oneself in a stereotyped role may not only increase women's endorsement of stereotypes about women and science, but also stifle broader concerns about social change. In the experiment, 81 women imagined themselves on a stereotypical or a counter-stereotypical career path (vs. a control condition). Participants in the stereotypical imagery condition endorsed to a higher extent the stereotypes about women and science, and crucially, were more resistant to social change in general. Stereotype endorsement mediated the relationship between exposure to stereotypes and resistance to social change. Results imply that tackling occupational gender stereotypes is crucial not only because they exclude women from male-dominated careers, but also because of a potentially pervasive negative impact on broader egalitarian concerns.
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The effect of intergroup contact on secondary group attitudes and social dominance orientation
Natalie Shook, Patricia Hopkins & Jasmine Koech
Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, forthcoming
Abstract:
The current study tested the extent to which intergroup contact reduces social dominance orientation (SDO), producing secondary transfer effects. Participants were first-year undergraduate students randomly assigned to live with either a same-race roommate or a roommate of a different race in university housing. Participants completed a feeling thermometer and a measure of SDO at the beginning and end of the fall semester. Participants in interracial rooms reported lower levels of SDO and more positive attitudes toward secondary groups (i.e., racial/ethnic groups other than their roommates’ group) than participants in same-race rooms at the end of the semester. Those in interracial rooms exhibited a significant change in SDO levels and attitudes across time, whereas those in same-race rooms exhibited no change. Furthermore, SDO fully mediated the effect of intergroup contact on attitudes toward secondary groups. These findings provide causal evidence of secondary transfer effects and indicate SDO as an underlying mechanism.
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Sounding Black or White: Priming identity and biracial speech
Sarah Gaither et al.
Frontiers in Psychology, April 2015
Abstract:
Research has shown that priming one’s racial identity can alter a biracial individuals’ social behavior, but can such priming also influence their speech? Language is often used as a marker of one’s social group membership and studies have shown that social context can affect the style of language that a person chooses to use, but this work has yet to be extended to the biracial population. Audio clips were extracted from a previous study involving biracial Black/White participants who had either their Black or White racial identity primed. Condition-blind coders rated Black-primed biracial participants as sounding significantly more Black and White-primed biracial participants as sounding significantly more White, both when listening to whole (Study 1a) and thin-sliced (Study 1b) clips. Further linguistic analyses (Studies 2a–c) were inconclusive regarding the features that differed between the two groups. Future directions regarding the need to investigate the intersections between social identity priming and language behavior with a biracial lens are discussed.
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It’s just a (sexist) joke: Comparing reactions to sexist versus racist communications
Julie Woodzicka et al.
Humor, May 2015, Pages 289–309
Abstract:
Two experiments test whether using humor moderates the effect of the type of prejudice (racist or sexist) on evaluations of discriminatory communications. Experiment 1 examined a) the offensiveness of sexist and racist humor and b) whether jokes were judged as confrontation-worthy compared to statements expressing the same prejudicial sentiment. Racist jokes and statements were rated as more offensive and confrontation-worthy than sexist statements and jokes, respectively. Additionally, sexist jokes were rated as less offensive than sexist statements. Experiment 2 examined a) the perceived appropriateness of three responses (ignoring, saying “that’s not funny,” or labeling as discrimination) to sexist or racist jokes and b) the likeability of the confronter. Saying “that’s not funny” was the most acceptable response to jokes, but labeling a racist joke as racism was perceived as more appropriate than labeling a sexist joke as sexism. Finally, confronters of racism were liked more than those who confronted sexism.
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Mourning Mayberry: Guns, Masculinity, and Socioeconomic Decline
Jennifer Carlson
Gender & Society, June 2015, Pages 386-409
Abstract:
This study uses in-depth interviews and participant observation with gun carriers in Michigan to examine how socioeconomic decline shapes the appropriation of guns by men of diverse class and race backgrounds. Gun carriers nostalgically referenced the decline of Mayberry America — a version of America characterized by the stable employment of male breadwinners and low crime rates. While men of color and poor and working-class men bear the material brunt of these transformations, this narrative of decline impacts how both privileged and marginalized men think of themselves as men because of the ideological centrality of breadwinning to American masculinity. Using Young’s (2003) “masculine protectionism” framework, I argue that against this backdrop of decline, men use guns not simply to instrumentally address the threat of crime but also to negotiate their own position within a context of socioeconomic decline by emphasizing their role as protector.
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Reducing prejudice through brain stimulation
Roberta Sellaro et al.
Brain Stimulation, forthcoming
Background: Social categorization and group identification are essential ingredients for maintaining a positive self-image that often lead to negative, implicit stereotypes toward members of an out-group. The medial Prefrontal Cortex (mPFC) may be a critical component in counteracting stereotypes activation.
Objective: Here, we assessed the causal role of the mPFC in these processes by non-invasive brain stimulation via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).
Method: Participants (n=60) were randomly and equally assigned to receive anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation over the mPFC while performing an Implicit Association Test (IAT): They were instructed to categorize in-group and out-group names and positive and negative attributes.
Results: Anodal excitability-enhancing stimulation decreased implicit biased attitudes toward out-group members compared to excitability-diminishing cathodal and sham stimulation.
Conclusions: These results provide evidence for a critical role of the mPFC in counteracting stereotypes activation. Furthermore, our results are consistent with previous findings showing that increasing cognitive control may overcome negative bias toward members of social out-groups.
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Folk beliefs about genetic variation predict avoidance of biracial individuals
Sonia Kang, Jason Plaks & Jessica Remedios
Frontiers in Psychology, April 2015
Abstract:
People give widely varying estimates for the amount of genetic overlap that exists between humans. While some laypeople believe that humans are highly genetically similar to one another, others believe that humans share very little genetic overlap. These studies examine how beliefs about genetic overlap affect neural and evaluative reactions to racially-ambiguous and biracial targets. In Study 1, we found that lower genetic overlap estimates predicted a stronger neural avoidance response to biracial compared to monoracial targets. In Study 2, we found that lower genetic overlap estimates predicted longer response times to classify biracial (vs. monoracial) faces into racial categories. In Study 3, we manipulated genetic overlap beliefs and found that participants in the low overlap condition explicitly rated biracial targets more negatively than those in the high overlap condition. Taken together, these data suggest that genetic overlap beliefs influence perceivers’ processing fluency and evaluation of biracial and racially-ambiguous individuals.
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Travis Dixon
Communication Research, forthcoming
Abstract:
A content analysis of a random sample of Los Angeles television news programs was used to assess racial representations of perpetrators, victims, and officers. A series of comparisons were used to assess whether local news depictions differed from outside indicators of social reality. In a significant departure from prior research, they revealed that perpetration was accurately depicted on local TV news. Blacks, in particular, were accurately depicted as perpetrators, victims, and officers. However, although Latinos were accurately depicted as perpetrators, they continued to be underrepresented as victims and officers. Conversely, Whites remained significantly overrepresented as victims and officers. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of incognizant racism, ethnic blame discourse, structural limitations, and the guard dog perspective of news media.
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Can pejorative terms ever lead to positive social consequences? The case of SlutWalk
Danielle Gaucher, Brianna Hunt & Lisa Sinclair
Language Sciences, forthcoming
Abstract:
Critics of SlutWalk social movements claim that the term slut can never be empowering and that it is inherently derogatory. However, recent research suggests that the in-group can re-appropriate slurs successfully (e.g., Croom, 2013, Galinsky et al., 2013). In two experiments, we investigated whether the typically pejorative term slut can lead to positive social consequences when used in the context of a social justice movement. We exposed participants to the term slut and systematically varied the sex of the speaker (Study 1) and the context in which the slur was used (Studies 1 and 2). Women were less likely to endorse common rape myths after being exposed to slut in a supportive (i.e., SlutWalk march) relative to a nondescript context (i.e., yelled in the street), regardless of the sex of speaker (Study 1), and even when compared to baseline (i.e., absence of any mention of the term; Study 2). Moreover, within a supportive march context the use of the slur slut did not significantly lower women's feelings of empowerment relative to a slur-free women's march (Study 2). Taken together, results demonstrate that the slur slut is not inherently derogatory and can be re-appropriated under supportive march contexts. Implications for language re-appropriation in social demonstrations are discussed.
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Sexist humor as a trigger of state self-objectification in women
Thomas Ford et al.
Humor, May 2015, Pages 253–269
Abstract:
We conducted two experiments to test the possibility that sexist humor triggers a state of self-objectification in women. Our findings supported two hypotheses derived from self-objectification theory. In Experiment 1, we found that women (but not men) reported greater state self-objectification following exposure to sexist comedy clips than neutral comedy clips. Experiment 2 replicated this finding for women and further demonstrated that sexist humor causes women to engage in more body surveillance compared to neutral humor.
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Hillary Pennell & Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz
Sex Roles, March 2015, Pages 211-220
Abstract:
The present study was conducted with female undergraduates in the Midwestern region of U.S. to examine the potential positive and negative influences of the gendered depictions of women in superhero films. This study utilized social cognitive and objectification theory frameworks to experimentally examine the short-term effects of exposure to sexualized female characters in superhero films on 83 female viewers’ gender role beliefs, body esteem, and self-objectification. Results show that exposure to the sexualized-victim images of women in superhero films decreased egalitarian gender role beliefs. Exposure to the sexualized-heroine images resulted in lower body esteem. Additionally, a positive effect emerged with a greater belief in the importance of body competence to the self-concept for women who were exposed to the superheroine characters. This study demonstrates short-term effects from viewing sexualized images of women in superhero films and provides a significant understanding of how sexualized female representations may impact gender related beliefs as well as perceptions of one’s self-esteem and body objectification.
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Kristen Salomon, Kaleena Burgess & Jennifer Bosson
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, April 2015, Pages 469-479
Abstract:
Women’s cardiovascular responses to sexist treatment are documented, but researchers have yet to consider these responses separately as a function of sexism type (hostile vs. benevolent). This study demonstrates distinct effects of hostile and benevolent sexism for women’s cardiovascular responses that indicate increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Female participants performed a demanding insight task after exposure to a male researcher who offered them a hostilely sexist, benevolently sexist, or nonsexist comment. Women displayed heightened cardiovascular reactivity (increases from baseline) during the task following hostile sexism, and they displayed impaired cardiovascular recovery (return to baseline after the task) following benevolent sexism. The effects seen in the hostile condition were mediated by self-reported anger. These findings indicate that women’s affective responses to hostile and benevolent sexism differ but that exposure to both forms of sexism may have negative cardiovascular consequences.
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Franklin Waddell & James Ivory
Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Winter 2015, Pages 112-129
Abstract:
Interactions in online environments are influenced by many of the same gender and sex-role stereotypes that people use in offline interactions. However, less research has examined systematically how the traits of an avatar and the avatar's user interact to influence stereotypical responses in virtual spaces. A field experiment manipulated avatar attractiveness, avatar sex, user sex, and favor difficulty to measure responses to a requested favor across 2,300 interactions in an online game. Attractive avatars received more help than less attractive avatars, but female users received less help than male users when represented by avatars that were less attractive or male.
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The Woman Next to Me: Pairing Powerful and Objectifying Representations of Women
Deborah Schooler
Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, forthcoming
Abstract:
Previous research has documented negative effects of exposure to sexually objectifying media and positive effects of viewing women with more power and agency. The current study evaluates the effects of pairing these two types of representations of women on gender attitudes. Experimental stimuli were based on actual images from a student newspaper, where a statement from the new, female university president ran on the front page adjacent to a sexually objectifying ad. The experiment used a 2 (type of article) X 2 (type of ad) X 2 (gender) design to evaluate the independent and combined effects of viewing the statement from the president and the objectifying ad. Exposure to the objectifying ad was related to more attributional bias and marginally more stereotype production but was not related to hostile or benevolent sexism. Men who saw the objectifying ad alongside the president's statement rated the president as significantly less competent than other groups. Implications for the professional advancement of women are discussed, including the importance of context for media attention paid to female political figures.
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Tobias Stark
Social Psychology Quarterly, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research has found that prejudiced people avoid friendships with members of ethnic outgroups. Results of this study suggest that this effect is mediated by a social network process. Longitudinal network analysis of a three-wave panel study of 12- to 13-year-olds (N = 453) found that more prejudiced majority group members formed fewer intergroup friendships than less prejudiced majority group members. This was caused indirectly by the preference to become friends of one’s friends’ friends (triadic closure). More prejudiced majority members did not have a preference for actively avoiding minority group members. Rather, they had the tendency to avoid friends who already had minority group friends and thus could not be introduced to potential minority group friends. Instead they became friends with the majority group friends of their friends. This research shows how a social networks perspective can further our understanding of the processes underlying intergroup contact.
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Asian American Phenotypicality and Experiences of Psychological Distress: More Than Meets the Eyes
Matthew Lee & Christina Thai
Asian American Journal of Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Research on Asian Americans’ experiences of racism has examined the impact of generation status and ethnicity. This study investigates how phenotypic and physical appearance characteristics are implicated in self-reports of racialization and social anxiety in Asian American college students (n = 170) who completed measures of psychological distress, well-being, and racialization (e.g., Subtle and Blatant Racism Scale; Yoo, Steger, & Lee, 2010). Participants’ digital photographs were analyzed to test whether specific physical characteristics correlated with self-reported distress. Results suggest eyeglasses and darker skin tone are strongly associated with greater reports of racialization and psychological distress in Asian American college students.
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When threat matters: Self-regulation, threat salience, and stereotyping
Steven Stroessner et al.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, July 2015, Pages 77–89
Abstract:
Four experiments examined whether information implying imminent threat to safety would interact with regulatory focus (Higgins, 1997) to affect the utilization of threat-relevant stereotypes. Because information suggesting imminent danger is more relevant to the safety goals of prevention-focused individuals than the advancement goals of promotion-focused individuals,, utilization of threat-relevant stereotypes was expected to increase under such conditions only under prevention focus. Support for this prediction was obtained in four distinct and socially important domains. Using scenarios describing a violent crime committed by an African-American male (Experiment 1) or a petty crime committed by an undocumented immigrant (Experiment 2), prevention-focused individuals made judgments consistent with stereotypes when threat was perceived to be high rather than low. In studies that manipulated the stereotypicality of the target in a terrorism scenario (Experiments 3 & 4), prevention-focused individuals were more likely to endorse scrutinizing a stereotypical compared with a non-stereotypical target when terrorism was described as an increasing problem. Implications for models of stereotyping, self-regulation, and responding to threat are discussed.
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Effect of neighborhood stigma on economic transactions
Max Besbris et al.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 21 April 2015, Pages 4994–4998
Abstract:
The hypothesis of neighborhood stigma predicts that individuals who reside in areas known for high crime, poverty, disorder, and/or racial isolation embody the negative characteristics attributed to their communities and experience suspicion and mistrust in their interactions with strangers. This article provides an experimental test of whether neighborhood stigma affects individuals in one domain of social life: economic transactions. To evaluate the neighborhood stigma hypothesis, this study adopts an audit design in a locally organized, online classified market, using advertisements for used iPhones and randomly manipulating the neighborhood of the seller. The primary outcome under study is the number of responses generated by sellers from disadvantaged relative to advantaged neighborhoods. Advertisements from disadvantaged neighborhoods received significantly fewer responses than advertisements from advantaged neighborhoods. Results provide robust evidence that individuals from disadvantaged neighborhoods bear a stigma that influences their prospects in economic exchanges. The stigma is greater for advertisements originating from disadvantaged neighborhoods where the majority of residents are black. This evidence reveals that residence in a disadvantaged neighborhood not only affects individuals through mechanisms involving economic resources, institutional quality, and social networks but also affects residents through the perceptions of others.
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Johannes Breuer et al.
Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, April 2015, Pages 197-202
Abstract:
From the oversexualized characters in fighting games, such as Dead or Alive or Ninja Gaiden, to the overuse of the damsel in distress trope in popular titles, such as the Super Mario series, the under- and misrepresentation of females in video games has been well documented in several content analyses. Cultivation theory suggests that long-term exposure to media content can affect perceptions of social realities in a way that they become more similar to the representations in the media and, in turn, impact one's beliefs and attitudes. Previous studies on video games and cultivation have often been cross-sectional or experimental, and the limited longitudinal work in this area has only considered time intervals of up to 1 month. Additionally, previous work in this area has focused on the effects of violent content and relied on self-selected or convenience samples composed mostly of adolescents or college students. Enlisting a 3 year longitudinal design, the present study assessed the relationship between video game use and sexist attitudes, using data from a representative sample of German players aged 14 and older (N=824). Controlling for age and education, it was found that sexist attitudes — measured with a brief scale assessing beliefs about gender roles in society — were not related to the amount of daily video game use or preference for specific genres for both female and male players. Implications for research on sexism in video games and cultivation effects of video games in general are discussed.