Fade to White
Maureen Craig et al.
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present research examines how making discrimination salient influences stigmatized group members' evaluations of other stigmatized groups. Specifically, three studies examine how salient sexism affects women's attitudes toward racial minorities. White women primed with sexism expressed more pro-White (relative to Black and Latino) self-report (Studies 1 and 3) and automatic (Study 2) intergroup bias, compared with White women who were not primed with sexism. Furthermore, group affirmation reduced the pro-White/antiminority bias White women expressed after exposure to sexism (Study 3), suggesting the mediating role of social identity threat. Overall, the results suggest that making discrimination salient triggers social identity threat, rather than a sense of common disadvantage, among stigmatized group members, leading to the derogation of other stigmatized groups. Implications for relations among members of different stigmatized groups are discussed.
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Prescriptive stereotypes and workplace consequences for East Asians in North America
Jennifer Berdahl & Ji-A Min
Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, April 2012, Pages 141-152
Abstract:
We pursue the idea that racial stereotypes are not only descriptive, reflecting beliefs about how racial groups actually differ, but are prescriptive as well, reflecting beliefs about how racial groups should differ. Drawing on an analysis of the historic and current status of East Asians in North America, we study descriptive and prescriptive stereotypes of East Asians along the dimensions of competence, warmth, and dominance and examine workplace consequences of violating these stereotypes. Study 1 shows that East Asians are descriptively stereotyped as more competent, less warm, and less dominant than Whites. Study 2 shows that only the descriptive stereotype of East Asians as less dominant than Whites is also a prescriptive stereotype. Study 3 reveals that people dislike a dominant East Asian coworker compared to a nondominant East Asian or a dominant or a nondominant White coworker. Study 4 shows that East Asians who are dominant or warm are racially harassed at work more than nondominant East Asians and than dominant and nondominant employees of other racial identities. Implications for research and theory are discussed.
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Ashleigh Shelby Rosette & Robert Livingston
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
We contribute to a current debate that focuses on whether individuals with more than one subordinate identity (i.e., Black women) experience more negative leader perceptions than do leaders with single-subordinate identities (i.e., Black men and White women). Results confirmed that Black women leaders suffered double jeopardy, and were evaluated more negatively than Black men and White women, but only under conditions of organizational failure. Under conditions of organizational success, the three groups were evaluated comparably to each other, but each group was evaluated less favorably than White men. Further, leader typicality, the extent to which individuals possess characteristics typically associated with a leader role, mediated the indirect effect of leader race, leader gender, and organizational performance on leader effectiveness. Taken together, these results suggest that Black women leaders may carry the burden of being disproportionately sanctioned for making mistakes on the job
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Gordon Moskowitz, Jeff Stone & Amanda Childs
American Journal of Public Health, May 2012, Pages 996-1001
Objectives: We investigated whether stereotypes unconsciously influence the thinking and behavior of physicians, as they have been shown to do in other professional settings, such as among law enforcement personnel and teachers.
Methods: We conducted 2 studies to examine whether stereotypes are implicitly activated in physicians. Study 1 assessed what diseases and treatments doctors associate with African Americans. Study 2 presented these (and control terms) to doctors as part of a computerized task. Subliminal images of African American and White men appeared prior to each word, and reaction times to words were recorded.
Results: When primed with an African American face, doctors reacted more quickly for stereotypical diseases, indicating an implicit association of certain diseases with African Americans. These comprised not only diseases African Americans are genetically predisposed to, but also conditions and social behaviors with no biological association (e.g., obesity, drug abuse).
Conclusions: We found implicit stereotyping among physicians; faces they never consciously saw altered performance. This suggests that diagnoses and treatment of African American patients may be biased, even in the absence of the practitioner's intent or awareness.
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How are we doing? Group-based economic assessments and African American political behavior
Matthew Wilson
Electoral Studies, forthcoming
Abstract:
Using data from the National Black Election Study, this study tests the importance of group-based economic evaluations in driving African American political behavior. Group-based evaluations powerfully influence presidential approval and vote choice, even controlling for national and personal evaluations and a conception of "linked fate." More importantly, group-based assessments exert a significant and independent influence on turnout, the central variable in black electoral politics. The results extend and reconsider the implications of group solidarity as a motivator of black political behavior and suggest that a revision of traditional notions of economic voting is in order, at least for African Americans.
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Irreplaceable Legislators? Rethinking Minority Representatives in the New Century
Eric Gonzalez Juenke & Robert Preuhs
American Journal of Political Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
We use state legislator ideology estimates (standardized W-nominate values) to examine whether Latino and African American legislator ideological differences can be explained away by traditional constituency characteristics like partisanship and demographics. We find instead that both Black and Latino legislators are unique "types." Our evidence supports the theoretical presumption that there is a minority dimension to legislative voting and that it is uniquely personified by minority officeholders. White, Black, Latino, Democrat, and Republican representatives are all examined for responsiveness to different partisan and racial/ethnic populations. The dataset includes all 50 state legislatures from the 1999-2000 legislative sessions, including information from the U.S. Census, NALEO, the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Gerald Wright's Representation in the American Legislature Project, and CQ Press's Almanac of State Legislative Elections.
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When Race, Gender, and the Media Intersect: Campaign News Coverage of Minority Congresswomen
Sarah Gershon
Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, Spring 2012, Pages 105-125
Abstract:
The news media often serves as an intermediary between elected officials and constituents, informing voters of the ways in which they are being represented. While the media plays a critical role in allowing representatives to communicate with constituents, previous research indicates that coverage of women and minority members of Congress may be unfavorable. Contrary to previous research, I find that being either a woman or a minority alone does not negatively impact coverage. However, faced with the "double barrier" of race and gender, minority congresswomen often receive more negative and less frequent media coverage than all other representatives.
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Why did you choose that person over me? Ingroup rejection and attributions to discrimination
Laurie O'Brien, Brenda Major & Stefanie Simon
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
The present research examined the attributions that people make when an individual rejects a member of his or her own group in favor of a member of an outgroup (i.e., ingroup rejection). Study 1 showed that Latinos rejected by an ingroup member (perpetrator) made more attributions to discrimination than Whites under similar circumstances. Study 2 showed that Latinos made more attributions to discrimination for ingroup rejection when the perpetrator was Latino as compared to when the perpetrator was White, whereas Whites' attributions to discrimination were relatively low regardless of perpetrator's ethnicity. Study 3 showed that priming loyalty norms increased attributions to discrimination among Latinos in response to ingroup rejection, but not in response to outgroup rejection. This research brings a new perspective to discrimination research by focusing on intragroup rejection and nonprototypical cases of discrimination.
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Janice Sabin & Anthony Greenwald
American Journal of Public Health, May 2012, Pages 988-995
Objectives: We examined the association between pediatricians' attitudes about race and treatment recommendations by patients' race.
Methods: We conducted an online survey of academic pediatricians (n = 86). We used 3 Implicit Association Tests to measure implicit attitudes and stereotypes about race. Dependent variables were recommendations for pain management, urinary tract infections, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and asthma, measured by case vignettes. We used correlational analysis to assess associations among measures and hierarchical multiple regression to measure the interactive effect of the attitude measures and patients' race on treatment recommendations.
Results: Pediatricians' implicit (unconscious) attitudes and stereotypes were associated with treatment recommendations. The association between unconscious bias and patient's race was statistically significant for prescribing a narcotic medication for pain following surgery. As pediatricians' implicit pro-White bias increased, prescribing narcotic medication decreased for African American patients but not for the White patients. Self-reported attitudes about race were associated with some treatment recommendations.
Conclusions: Pediatricians' implicit attitudes about race affect pain management. There is a need to better understand the influence of physicians' unconscious beliefs about race on pain and other areas of care.
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Racial Identity and Racial Treatment of Mexican Americans
Vilma Ortiz & Edward Telles
Race and Social Problems, April 2012, Pages 41-56
Abstract:
How racial barriers play in the experiences of Mexican Americans has been hotly debated. Some consider Mexican Americans similar to European Americans of a century ago that arrived in the United States with modest backgrounds but were eventually able to participate fully in society. In contrast, others argue that Mexican Americans have been racialized throughout U.S. history, and this limits their participation in society. The evidence of persistent educational disadvantages across generations and frequent reports of discrimination and stereotyping supports the racialization argument. In this paper, we explore the ways in which race plays a role in the lives of Mexican Americans by examining how education, racial characteristics, social interactions, relate to racial outcomes. We use the Mexican American Study Project, a unique data set based on a 1965 survey of Mexican Americans in Los Angeles and San Antonio combined with surveys of the same respondents and their adult children in 2000, thereby creating a longitudinal and intergenerational data set. First, we found that darker Mexican Americans, therefore appearing more stereotypically Mexican, report more experiences of discrimination. Second, darker men report much more discrimination than lighter men and than women overall. Third, more educated Mexican Americans experience more stereotyping and discrimination than their less educated counterparts, which is partly due to their greater contact with whites. Lastly, having greater contact with whites leads to experiencing more stereotyping and discrimination. Our results are indicative of the ways in which Mexican Americans are racialized in the United States.
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Alyssa Croft & Toni Schmader
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, forthcoming
Abstract:
How can we learn from our mistakes if we're unaware they exist? The present research tested the hypothesis that minority students receive less critical feedback on their written work from evaluators who are primarily externally motivated to inhibit their racial biases. Participants highlighted instances of good/bad writing in essays purportedly written by a White or a minority student. Results of two experiments showed that although participants provided equivalent amounts of positive feedback to both authors, they provided less negative feedback and gave higher grades to minority authors to the extent that they were externally but not internally motivated to respond without prejudice. This finding reveals that stigmatized students sometimes fail to receive the critical feedback necessary to identify areas needing improvement, particularly when evaluators are concerned about appearing prejudiced. The implications for educational equality are discussed.
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Race-Based Fantasy Realm: Essentialism in the World of Warcraft
Melissa Monson
Games and Culture, January 2012, Pages 48-71
Abstract:
This article explores issues of racial essentialism and ethnicity in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW). The fantasy world of Azeroth mirrors elements of real-world race-based societies where culture is thought to be immutably linked to race. The notion of biological essentialism is reinforced throughout the gamescape. Race plays a primary role in the social and political organization of Azeroth. Among other things, race determines alliances, language, intellect, temperament, occupation, strength, and technological aptitude. The cultural representation of the respective racial groups in WoW draws upon stereotypical imagery from real-world ethnic groups (e.g., American Indian, Irish/Scottish, Asian, African, etc.).
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Dixie Koo, Anthony Peguero & Zahra Shekarkhar
Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice, Spring 2012, Pages 129-147
Abstract:
Although previous research has demonstrated that immigration and gender may be related to victimization within U.S. schools, this study explores how immigration and gender are related to the victimization of Asian American youth within U.S. schools. Multilevel analyses that draw from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 suggest some important results. For instance, Asian American immigrant youth generally have an increased likelihood of being victimized at school. The results also suggest that Asian American immigrant girls are relatively more likely to endure school victimization. The implications of Asian American immigrant youths' increased vulnerabilities to violence at school are discussed.
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Frederick Gibbons et al.
Developmental Psychology, May 2012, Pages 722-739
Abstract:
The impact of 3 different sources of stress - environmental, familial (e.g., low parental investment), and interpersonal (i.e., racial discrimination) - on the life history strategies (LHS) and associated cognitions of African American adolescents were examined over an 11-year period (5 waves, from age 10.5 to 21.5). Analyses indicated that each one of the sources of stress was associated with faster LHS cognitions (e.g., tolerance of deviance, willingness to engage in risky sex), which, in turn, predicted faster LHS behaviors (e.g., frequent sexual behavior). LHS, then, negatively predicted outcome (resilience) at age 21.5 (i.e., faster LHS → less resilience). In addition, presence of the risk ("sensitivity") alleles of 2 monoamine-regulating genes, the serotonin transporter gene (5HTTLPR) and the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4), moderated the impact of perceived racial discrimination on LHS cognitions: Participants with more risk alleles (higher "sensitivity") reported faster LHS cognitions at age 18 and less resilience at age 21 if they had experienced higher amounts of discrimination and slower LHS and more resilience if they had experienced smaller amounts of discrimination. Implications for LHS theories are discussed.
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Kyle Ratner, May Ling Halim & David Amodio
Social Psychological and Personality Science, forthcoming
Abstract:
Racial disparities are a major public health concern in the United States. The authors examined whether Black and Latina community members' perceptions of stigmatization and personal feelings about their group relate to immune and endocrine markers associated with health risk, including the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), which coordinates the immune response to infection, the anabolic hormone dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which promotes cellular resilience, and the catabolic hormone cortisol, which releases metabolic stores in response to threat. Greater perceived stigmatization was associated with higher basal IL-6, whereas greater ingroup pride was related to elevated basal DHEA. These associations remained with adjustment for general perceived stress, experience with discrimination, age, and income. No significant perceived stigmatization or ingroup pride effects emerged for basal cortisol. These findings provide new evidence that perceived stigmatization and ingroup pride are linked to indicators of disease and resilience, respectively, highlighting mechanisms through which racial and ethnic stigmatization may contribute to health disparities.
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Graham Ousey & James Unnever
Criminology, forthcoming
Abstract:
Scholars often have used the group threat thesis to explain why punitiveness varies across places. This research regularly has found that punitiveness is harsher in places with a larger minority population. Yet researchers only have had a rudimentary grasp of why this is the case. Moreover, most prior research has focused only on the United States, giving us little knowledge of whether the group threat thesis is a viable explanation of cross-national differences in punitiveness. In the current study, we postulate that the relative size of the out-group population affects punitiveness indirectly, via its impact on individual intolerance toward ethnic out-groups. We test this thesis cross-nationally with data from individuals residing in 27 European countries. Our findings are consistent with the argument that greater racial/ethnic diversity at the country level affects individuals' attitudes toward minority out-groups, which in turn increases their support for severely punishing criminal offenders.
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Social Capital, Religion, Wal-Mart, and Hate Groups in America
Stephan Goetz, Anil Rupasingha & Scott Loveridge
Social Science Quarterly, June 2012, Pages 379-393
Objective: The recent surge in hate group activity is a concern to many citizens and policymakers. We examine the roles of socioeconomic factors measured at the county level that are hypothesized to account for the presence of such groups, including social capital and religious affiliations.
Methods: We estimate a Poisson regression model using counts of hate groups provided by the Southern Poverty Law Center for each of the over 3,000 U.S. counties. Our regressors include a wider set of variables than has been considered in previous studies, such as Jefferson and Pryor (1999).
Results: Our approach produces a better statistical fit than that in Jefferson and Pryor's paper, and the additional regressors contribute significantly to our understanding of hate groups.
Conclusion: Both social capital stocks and religious affiliation exert an independent and statistically significant influence on the number of hate groups, as does the presence of Wal-Mart stores, holding other factors constant.
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Shane Shucheng Wong et al.
Archives of Suicide Research, Spring 2012, Pages 159-173
Abstract:
This study compared self-reported risk factors for suicide among American high school students in the last decade. Data from the 1999-2009 Youth Risk Behavior Surveys was analyzed by 8 self-reported ethnicity groups across 6 suicide-related items: depression, suicide ideation, suicide planning, suicide attempts, and suicide attempts requiring medical attention). Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander adolescents had the higher prevalence of risk factors for suicide. Multiracial adolescents were also at high risk for suicide-related behaviors, with a risk comparable to American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents. Overall, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, multiracial, and American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents reported a significantly higher risk for suicide-related behaviors compared to their Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White peers. The ethnic disparities in risk factors for suicide dictate a need to understand the vulnerability of the Pacific Islander, American Indian, and growing multiracial adolescent populations, in an effort to develop and implement suicide prevention strategies.
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Party competence perceptions and the party identification of African Americans
Maruice Mangum
Party Politics, forthcoming
Abstract:
This research examines the effects of party competence perceptions on African-Americans' party identification. Using ordinary least squares regression to analyse data taken from the 1996 National Black Election Study, I regress African-Americans' party identification and feeling thermometers for Democrats and Republicans on items that measure African-American assessments of the political parties' ability to handle certain issues. The results indicate that those matters of race and economics influence party identification. Moreover, party competence perceptions influence partisanship more than party identification. Unlike the literature suggesting that individual factors are not significant, I find that individual life circumstances do influence African-Americans' party identification.