Perceiving Racism in Ambiguous Situations: Who Relies on Easy-to-Use Information?

Abstract

In situations that are ambiguous with regard to the presence of discrimination, how do people arrive at their conclusions that discrimination has (or has not) taken place? This question was examined from a motivated social cognition perspective via the interaction of two factors: the prototype effect—the notion that ambiguously discriminatory behavior is more likely to be perceived as discriminatory when the executor is prototypical and the need for cognitive closure—the tendency to jump hastily to and seize on an answer. Results provided replicating evidence of the prototype effect among European American participants but not among African American participants. Specifically, European Americans were likely to perceive ambiguously racist behavior enacted by a prototypical executor (i.e., a White person) as more discriminatory than the same behavior exhibited by a non-prototypical executor (i.e., a Black person). African American participants, on the other hand, showed no reliance on this simple cognitive heuristic. Furthermore, results showed that European Americans with a higher need for cognitive closure were more likely to rely on the easy-to-use information offered by prototypes. These findings are discussed from a motivated social cognition perspective.     

Ethnic Consciousness and Its Relationship to Conservatism and Blame Among African Americans1

Ethnic consciousness is “a set of political beliefs and action orientations arising out of the awareness of similarity” (Gurin, Miller, & Gurin, 1980, p. 30). We suggest that these beliefs relate to political values and views among African Americans. Correlational data revealed that ethnic consciousness is negatively correlated with conservative values. Experimental data revealed that students high in ethnic consciousness blamed a White firm for the termination of an African American employee more than a Black firm for terminating a European American employee. Those low in ethnic consciousness did not discriminate between the Black firm versus the White firm. Consciousness may operate as a means of connecting ethnic identity and political views.     

The Relationships Among Black Consciousness,Self-Esteem,and Academic Self-Efficacy in African American Men

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among Black consciousness, self-esteem, and academic self-efficacy in African American men. The participants were 120 African American male college students at a predominantly African American university. The authors administered 3 instruments—the Developmental Inventory of Black Consciousness (DIB-C; J. Milliones, 1980), the M. Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale, and R. E. Wood and E. A. Locke's (1987) Academic Self-Efficacy Scale—to test the hypotheses. They used an independent-measures t test and a Pearson r correlation to analyze the data. The results of the study supported the hypotheses under investigation. Significant positive relationships were found between Black consciousness and self-esteem and Black consciousness and academic self-efficacy. The results of the study showed that Black consciousness appears to be an important construct to use in understanding self-esteem and academic self-efficacy in African American men.     

Are Adewale and Ngochi more employable than Jamal and Lakeisha? The influence of nationality and ethnicity cues on employment-related evaluations of Blacks in the United States

ABSTRACT

Previous research has consistently shown that racial bias can influence employers’ perceptions and evaluations of Black individuals in hiring and promotion decisions. However, within-race differences (e.g., skin tone, Afrocentric features) can lead to variation in these decisions. In addition to phenotypical variation, ethnicity cues (e.g., perceived country of origin, name) may be important within-race factors influencing the perception and evaluations of Black job applicants. Using a resume evaluation paradigm, participants evaluated one of three resumes in which the target applicant’s name provided cues about ethnicity (either Black American, Black African, or White American). Results suggest that Black Americans may experience more discrimination in hiring and are generally perceived less positively across several employment-related domains than both White and Black African applicants. Specifically, we find that Black Americans are less likely to be selected for an interview or offered a job and are evaluated more negatively overall relative to Black Africans.     

Youth Developmental Assets and Perceived Life Satisfaction: Is There a Relationship?

This study explored associations between youth developmental assets (i.e., support by parents/other adults; accountability to adults; empowerment; school support; values regarding risk behaviors; quantity of other adult support; empathetic relationships) and adolescents’ perceptions of overall life satisfaction. Public high school students (N = 3,477) completed a self-report questionnaire. Analyses were conducted to examine relationships between developmental assets and perceived life satisfaction while controlling for socioeconomic status. Results indicated that significant (p ≤ .05) associations were established for perceived support by parents/other adults for all four race/gender groups, self and peer values regarding risk behavior for black females, quality of other adult support for black males and white females and life satisfaction for adolescents. Significant (p ≤ .05) associations were also established for perceived support by parents/other adults for White males and Black males, accountability to parents/other adults for White females, quality of other adult support for White males and Black females and for empathetic relationships for all four race/gender groups. Results suggest that perceived life satisfaction is related to youth developmental assets, although moderated by gender and race differences. Further research is necessary to identify the particular characteristics of youth and specific aspects of adolescent life satisfaction associated with youth developmental assets in order to develop gender appropriate and culturally sensitive health promotion programs.     

Adolescent Female Identify Development

The purpose of this study was to (a) add to the current literature on female identity development and (b) determine whether a gender specific pattern of identity formation is evident in females during their early and middle adolescent years. The Measures of Psychosocial Development (MPD) was administered by graduate students to 317 males and 332 females in sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades from schools in a small and a mid-sized mid-western city. The schools were selected because they were representative of the racial/ethnic status of the cities (African American, 12%, Asian American, 4%, European, 63%, Latino, 10%, and Native American, 6%; 5% did not state their ethnicity). The results of the two by four analyses of variance (gender by grade) indicated that females blend interpersonal and intrapersonal identity development, whereas males appear to develop only intrapersonal identity. Limitations and recommendations for future research are also included.     

Professional migration from the United States to Europe: Composite vignettes of black male basketball players from underserved communities

ObjectiveTo explore how the intersectional perspective of being a Black male from an underserved community shaped the professional cultural transition of American basketball players to Europe.Designand Method: The seven Black male athletes, who met the criteria of playing at least one year in a professional European basketball league and spending their formative years in an underserved community in the USA, participated in this study. Life story interviews, lasting between one and 2 h, were analysed through the principles of narrative analysis. Creative non-fiction was used to represent the findings in the form of composite vignettes using the words of the participants to create an evocative and meaningful experiential reconstruction.FindingsThe analysis uncovered three primary themes; steppingstones to becoming a professional basketball migrant; from America to Europe: a whole new world once again; and “don't bother to unpack your bags:” from ups and downs to settlement plans. Within these themes, the intersectional identity of being a Black male from a poor community underpinned the storyline.ConclusionsAll seven participants left their underserved community at some point during their teenage years, and this transition into a more affluent, White dominated society proved beneficial for the move to Europe. Further, the shared intersectional identity of being an African American male from a low socioeconomic community had critical implications for how they experienced the cultural transition to Europe, and how they were received by the host environment.     

The Role of Parenting in Relational Aggression and Prosocial Behavior among Emerging Adults

This study investigated the role of remembered parenting styles and parental psychological control in the prediction of relational aggression and prosocial behavior in a college student sample (N = 323). Participants’ retrospective ratings of how they were parented were related to relational aggression and prosocial behavior; however, somewhat different relationships emerged for African American and White participants. Permissive parenting, authoritative parenting, and parental psychological control predicted relational aggression. Participant race and all 3 parenting styles (authoritarian, authoritative, and permissive) predicted prosocial behavior. Participant race moderated the relationship between psychological control and prosocial behavior. Specifically, parental psychological control was inversely related to prosocial behavior for African American, but not White, participants.     

Stereotypes in the classroom's air: Classroom racial stereotype endorsement,classroom engagement,and STEM achievement among Black and White American adolescents

Initiatives promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in predominantly White contexts, including STEM fields, have primarily relied on approaches to increase the representation of minoritized individuals. However, an increase in the representation of minoritized individuals is only one step of the process, as the present study suggests that explicit beliefs about particular racial groups’ abilities also matter. The present article examined whether classroom racial stereotype endorsement about science and math disadvantaged Black American adolescents relative to their White American peers. Across two longitudinal studies with 533 and 1,189 adolescents (N-adolescents = 1722; N-classrooms = 86; 45% Black American, 55% White American; 51% females; M-age = 13–14), classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement in the fall term predicted better science and math achievement scores for White American adolescents and lower science and math achievement scores for Black American adolescents at the end of the academic year. Student- and teacher-reported student engagement in science and math classrooms mediated the longitudinal relations between classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement and students’ achievement scores. Results suggest that classrooms may be important conduits for communicating racial stereotypes that create racially hostile STEM learning environments.

Research Highlights

• Using a longitudinal sample of 1722 adolescents enrolled in 86 classrooms, the present study examined the consequences of classroom racial stereotype endorsement during adolescence.
• White American adolescents demonstrated favorable achievement scores in science and math when their classmates endorsed traditional, or pro-White/anti-Black, stereotypes.
• Black American adolescents showed worse achievement scores in science and math when their classmates endorsed pro-White/anti-Black stereotypes.
• Classroom engagement mediated the longitudinal relations between classroom pro-White/anti-Black stereotype endorsement and achievement scores for both Black and White American adolescents.

     

Working Together with God: Religious Coping,Perceived Discrimination,and Hypertension

This study examined the relationships of perceived discrimination and religious coping with hypertension in a sample of Black and White Seventh-day Adventists. Data come from a community-based sample of 6128 White American, 2253 African American and 927 Caribbean American adults (67% women; mean age = 62.9 years). Results indicate lifetime unfair treatment was significantly associated with hypertension regardless of race/ethnicity. Positive religious coping was associated with lower odds of hypertension and did not interact with unfair treatment. Both positive and negative religious coping were indirectly associated with increased hypertension risk through an increase in perceived discrimination.

     

Pain in the eye of the beholder: Variations in pain visual representations as a function of face ethnicity and culture

Pain experienced by Black individuals is systematically underestimated, and recent studies have shown that part of this bias is rooted in perceptual factors. We used Reverse Correlation to estimate visual representations of the pain expression in Black and White faces, in participants originating from both Western and African countries. Groups of raters were then asked to evaluate the presence of pain and other emotions in these representations. A second group of White raters then evaluated those same representations placed over a neutral background face (50% White; 50% Black). Image-based analyses show significant effects of culture and face ethnicity, but no interaction between the two factors. Western representations were more likely to be judged as expressing pain than African representations. For both cultural groups, raters also perceived more pain in White face representations than in Black face representations. However, when changing the background stimulus to the neutral background face, this effect of face ethnic profile disappeared. Overall, these results suggest that individuals have different expectations of how pain is expressed by Black and White individuals, and that cultural factors may explain a part of this phenomenon     

An Intersectional Analysis of Television Narratives of African American Women with African American Men on “the Down Low”

The controversial phenomenon of “the down low” has created fear and suspicion of male sexual partners among many African American women. Being on the down low refers to men that lead seemingly heterosexual lives, yet secretly have sex with other men. Popular media have portrayed this topic more widely in more recent years and generally focus on African Americans. Two popular television shows, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit and Girlfriends, have dedicated episodes centering heterosexual African American women partnered with African American men on the down low. The popular television film, Cover, features an African American woman who learns her husband secretly has affairs with other men. Black feminist thought provides an intersectional frame for analyzing the content of these portrayals of Black women in relationships with men on the down low. The analysis demonstrates that the down low associates more affluent African Americans with socially deviant behavior and issues, such as hyper-sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Further, they show newer interpretations of African American women “in love and in trouble” and that African American men often have to disguise and remain silent about their sexuality to garner acceptance into their communities.     

Sexual Health Counselor Preferences of African American and European American Women: A Brief Report

African American women (n = 42) and European American women (n = 46) were queried regarding their comfort level discussing various sexual health topics with hypothetical counselors who were varied by race (African American vs. European American) or counseling value (culturally sensitive vs. knowledgeable). Contrary to hypotheses, European American participants were more comfortable with the knowledgeable African American counselor and the culturally sensitive European American counselor, while African American women showed no preference. Implications are discussed for improving sexual health counseling services for African American and European American women with consideration of client sexual attitude and race of counselor in order to reduce disparities in sexual health.     

Subjective Impressions of Minority Group Representation in the Media: A Comparison of Majority and Minority Viewers’ Judgments and Underlying Processes

Consumers’ judgments of the frequency with which members of an ethnic minority are represented in advertisements can depend on the processing strategies they employ both at the time the ads are first encountered and at the time the judgments are reported. These strategies, in turn, can depend on whether the consumers personally belong to the minority group in question. European American and African American participants received a series of advertisements that varied in terms of the relative numbers of Black and White models that were portrayed. European Americans overestimated the number of Black models that appeared in the ads when the actual incidence of these models was low, but this overestimation decreased (and thus they became more accurate) as the number of ads containing these models increased. In contrast, African Americans were accurate when only a small number of Black models were presented, but became less accurate as the actual incidence of the models became greater. European Americans apparently based their estimates on the ease of recalling individual instances at the time of judgment, whereas African Americans appeared to perform an online tally of the number of Black models shown at the time they encountered them.     

An Analysis of Natural Mentoring Relationship Profiles and Associations with Mentees’ Mental Health: Considering Links via Support from Important Others

We explored associations between natural mentoring relationship profiles and young adults’ life satisfaction and symptoms of depression via participants’ perceived support from important others accounting for participants’ perceived support and mental health prior to the onset of their natural mentoring relationships. Participants included 396 young adults (57 % female; mean age = 30.97, SD = .6), the majority of whom identified as Black or African American (79 % Black, 18 % White, 3 % Biracial). Most participants had completed high school but few participants (13 %) had completed degrees from 4 year institutions. We used a latent profile approach to identify natural mentoring relationship profiles and employed structural equation modeling to test our study hypotheses. Slightly over half of study participants (53 %) reported the presence of a natural mentor in their lives since the age of 14. Results suggest that natural mentoring relationships characterized by high levels of relational closeness and either extended relationship duration or frequent contact may promote improvements in psychological well-being among mentees over time via greater experiences of social support from important others.     

A criminological assessment on South African women who murdered their intimate male partners

This study aimed to unravel the offence-specific factors to murder by females of their intimate male partners. Participants were 15 South African women prison inmates serving sentences for murdering their male partners (age range from 22 years to 62 years). The majority (80%) of the sample were Black. Data were collected with in-depth one-on-one interviews with sentenced females and analysed from a criminological perspective according to reoccurring themes that emerged from the data. Results indicate availability of hit men and cultural consultation with sangomas or traditional African healers, substance abuse and experience of abuse to be associated with intimate male partner murders by females. Participants seemed to have also been driven to murder by jealousy, in regard to extramarital affairs by partners, and also to be acting in self-defence when the murder occurred. The females’ unique life histories explained their particular pathways to murder.     

Exploring Divergent Patterns in Racial Identity Profiles Between Caribbean Black American and African American Adolescents: The Links to Perceived Discrimination and Psychological Concerns

Using cluster analyses, this study explored the relations among racial identity, perceived discrimination, and psychological concerns among 189 Caribbean Black American and African American adolescents. Findings showed that for all participants, less mature racial identity profiles were significantly related to perceived discrimination and psychological concerns. However, nuances in racial identity profiles between Caribbean Black American and African American participants suggest subtle ethnic group differences in racial identity development. Implications for practitioners and research are discussed. Usando análisis cluster, este estudio exploró las relaciones entre identidad racial, discriminación percibida y preocupaciones psicológicas en 189 adolescentes afroamericanos y americanos negros caribeños. Los hallazgos mostraron que, para todos los participantes, los perfiles de identidad racial menos maduros estaban significativamente relacionados con una discriminación percibida y preocupaciones psicológicas. Sin embargo, los matices de los perfiles de identidad racial entre los participantes afroamericanos y americanos negros caribeños sugieren unas diferencias sutiles entre ambos grupos étnicos en el desarrollo de la identidad racial. Se discuten las implicaciones para practicantes e investigadores.     

Race and Nation: How Racial Hierarchy Shapes National Attachments

We contend that the boundaries and nature of national attachments are shaped by the position of one's group within America's racial order, with higher status yielding more racially exclusive forms of identity. We test our claims in the realm of xenophobia. Using an original survey of African Americans (n = 1,000) and Whites (n = 1,000), we assess national pride, nationalism, nativism, and racial identity, plus affect toward various immigrant groups. We establish that national attachments have racially varied meanings, thereby producing sharp differences in each racial group's response to foreigners. Although national pride is unrelated to White antipathy toward outsiders, nationalism and nativism increase White hostility to immigrants—except when they are White. In contrast, national pride diminishes African American hostility to Black and non‐Black immigrants, while nativism is generally unrelated to Black antipathy to outsiders. Finally, while nationalism heightens xenophobia among Blacks, this sentiment envelops all foreigners—including African immigrants. We discuss our results' implications for theories of national attachment in intergroup settings.     

The effects of race and racial priming on self-report of contamination anxiety

African Americans show unusually high endorsement rates on self-report measures of contamination anxiety. The purpose of this study was to replicate this finding in a nationally representative sample and conduct a randomized experiment to determine the effect of salience of race as a causal factor. Black and White participants were given contamination items from two popular measures of obsessive-compulsive disorder, half prior to being primed about ethnic identity and half after being primed, via the administration of an ethnic identity measure. The experiment took the form of a 2 (Black and White participant) X 2 (ethnicity salient and ethnicity non-salient) double-blind design, with ethnic saliency assigned at random by computer. Participants consisted of a geographically representative US sample of African Americans supplemented with a similar sample of European Americans (N=258). Black participants scored significantly higher than White participants on contamination scales. Participants from Southern states scored higher than those from other regions. Over-endorsements by Black participants were greater when awareness of ethnic and racial identification was increased. Clinical and research implications were discussed; these measures should be used with caution in African Americans.