Possible Implicit Mechanisms of Minority Representation

Minority representation is an important topic for political science—how do members of a racial majority group identify with the political goals of a minority, even when research documents widespread anti‐Black bias? Does pro‐Black policy support require an individual to be unbiased, or can such support emerge despite internalized anti‐Black bias? This paper draws a distinction between two types of implicit racial attitude measures based on functionalist theories of attitudes ( Katz, 1960 ; Smith, Bruner, & White, 1956 ) and research regarding automatic empathic processes ( Decety & Jackson, 2004 ; Preston & de Waal, 2002 ). According to this distinction, some attitudes evaluate racial groups as attitude objects (evaluative associations), while others involve automatic identification with them as people (relational associations). I use subliminal racial priming for evaluative associations and a measure of implicit closeness to Blacks ( Craemer, 2008 ) for relational associations. The evaluative measure captures association strength between a racial stimulus and race‐unrelated positive or negative target words. The relational measure assesses association strength between the respondent's self‐concept and the mental representation of a racial group based on implicit “self‐other overlap” ( Aron, Aron, Tudor, & Nelson, 1991 ). Implicit measures are obtained in a well powered online reaction time study (n = 1,341). Online results are evaluated against a representative telephone survey (n = 1,200). Consistent with the extant literature, a significant anti‐Black bias emerges in evaluative associations. In contrast, a significant pro‐Black effect emerges in relational associations and the two implicit measures are statistically unrelated. Both measures predict pro‐Black policy support independently of one another and net of other factors. Implicit closeness to Blacks predicts pro‐Black policy support even among White respondents suggesting that minority representation based on relational associations may be possible despite widespread anti‐Black evaluative bias.     

Coalition or derogation? How perceived discrimination influences intraminority intergroup relations

Five studies explored how perceived societal discrimination against one's own racial group influences racial minority group members' attitudes toward other racial minorities. Examining Black-Latino relations, Studies 1a and 1b showed that perceived discrimination toward oneself and one's own racial group may be positively associated with expressed closeness and common fate with another racial minority group, especially if individuals attribute past experiences of discrimination to their racial identity rather than to other social identities (Study 1b). In Studies 2-5, Asian American (Studies 2, 3, and 4) and Latino (Study 5) participants were primed with discrimination against their respective racial groups (or not) and completed measures of attitudes toward Black Americans. Participants primed with racial discrimination expressed greater positivity toward and perceived similarity with Blacks than did participants who were not primed. These results suggest, consistent with the common ingroup identity model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000), that salient discrimination against one's own racial group may trigger a common "disadvantaged racial minority" (ingroup) identity that engenders more positive attitudes toward and feelings of closeness toward other racial minorities.     

AMPing Racial Attitudes: Comparing the Power of Explicit and Implicit Racism Measures in 2008

In 2008, ANES included for the first time—along with standard explicit measures of old‐fashioned and symbolic racism—the Affect Misattribution Procedure (AMP), a relatively new implicit measure of racial attitudes. This article examines the extent to which four different measures of racial prejudice (three explicit and one implicit) predict public opinion during and after the 2008 election, including Americans' views towards several racial policy issues, their evaluations of, and feelings toward, Barack Obama, and their attitudes toward a Black president in general. Oversamples of African American and Latino respondents in the 2008 ANES enable us to broaden our tests of these measures beyond traditional White samples. We find that racial prejudice played an important role for all racial/ethnic groups but that the traditional explicit measures of racism are by far the stronger predictors for all of our dependent variables (compared to the new implicit measure) for both White and Black respondents. Surprisingly, the AMP adds clear explanatory power only to models in the Latino sample.     

Explaining White Opposition to Black Political Leadership: The Role of Fear of Racial Favoritism

Despite the election of America's first Black president, most non‐Hispanic Whites continue to oppose Black political leadership. The conventional explanation for White opposition is sheer racial prejudice, yet the available empirical evidence for this theory is inconsistent. I test an alternative theory that Whites perceive Black political leaders as a threat to their group's interests. Using a new survey measure and nationally representative panel data covering the 2008, 2010, and 2012 U.S. elections, I find that a majority of Whites perceive Black elected officials as likely to favor Blacks over Whites. Moreover, fear of racial favoritism predicts support for Barack Obama in both cross‐sectional models and fixed‐effects models of within‐person change, controlling for negative racial stereotypes. I replicate these findings using a separate cross‐sectional survey fielded after the 2014 election that controls for racial resentment. Collectively, these results suggest that perceptions of conflicting group interests—and not just prejudice—drive White opposition to Black political leadership.     

From hierarchy to rivalry: Asian candidate evaluation in changing racial contexts

Existing studies on candidate evaluation have posited that racial cues would invoke negative attitudes toward outgroups, thus lowering support for minority candidates. However, recent studies have found that even implicit racial cues show no negative effect but actually work positively in favor of the minority candidates. In this study, I explore this puzzle by setting up a survey experiment that pairs an Asian candidate against competitors with varying racial backgrounds. Consistent with the existing evidence, I found that White voters tend to support an Asian candidate to a greater degree than a co‐ethnic, White competitor. However, departing from the previous studies that have explained this tendency as a reward for model minority, I argue that such a pattern is associated with reaffirming Whites’ ingroup identity in a racial hierarchy by compensating minorities. When the apparent racial hierarchy—White versus non‐White—is replaced with a minority‐only context, Whites no longer need to favor an Asian candidate and divide their support more evenly to the two minority candidates. I further show that this tendency is moderated by the intensity of their ingroup attitudes.     

Perspective and prejudice: antecedents and mediating mechanisms

The present work investigated mechanisms by which Whites' prejudice toward Blacks can be reduced (Study 1) and explored how creating a common ingroup identity can reduce prejudice by promoting these processes (Study 2). In Study 1, White participants who viewed a videotape depicting examples of racial discrimination and who imagined the victim's feelings showed greater decreases in prejudice toward Blacks than did those in the objective and no instruction conditions. Among the potential mediating affective and cognitive variables examined, reductions in prejudice were mediated primarily by feelings associated with perceived injustice. In Study 2, an intervention designed to increase perceptions of a common group identity before viewing the videotape, reading that a terrorist threat was directed at all Americans versus directed just at White Americans, also reduced prejudice toward Blacks through increases in feelings of injustice.     

Effects of exposure to alcohol‐related cues on racial discrimination

Prior research has shown that exposure to alcohol‐related images exacerbates expression of implicit racial biases, and that brief exposure to alcohol‐related words increases aggressive responses. However, the potential for alcohol cue exposure to elicit differential aggression against a Black (outgroup) relative to a White (ingroup) target—that is, racial discrimination—has never been investigated. Here, we found that White participants (N = 92) exposed to alcohol‐related words made harsher judgments of a Black experimenter who had frustrated them than participants who were exposed to nonalcohol words. These findings suggest that exposure to alcohol cues increases discriminatory behaviors toward Blacks.     

Exploring the Links Between Racial Identity Attitudes and Psychological Feelings of Closeness in African American College Students

The relationship between racial identity attitudes and psychological closeness to various African American groups was examined in 171 African American college students at a predominantly White southeastern university. The data were collected using the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (Helms & Parham, 1985), and a scale measuring Perceived Psychological Closeness to African Americans. The closeness scale is a 14-item instrument that was found to represent (in this sample) psychological closeness to 4 African American groups. Internalized racial identity attitudes indicated positive feelings toward various groups of African Americans. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that internalized racial identity attitudes were predictive of psychological closeness to African Americans, although this varied somewhat depending on the subgroup.     

Subliminal exposure to faces and racial attitudes: Exposure to Whites makes Whites like Blacks less

Despite recent social and political advances, most interracial contact is still superficial in nature, and White individuals interact mainly with other Whites. Based on recent mere exposure research, we propose that repeated exposure to Whites may actually increase prejudice. In a series of experiments, White participants were subliminally exposed to White faces or nothing (control) and then completed various explicit and implicit measures of racial attitudes. Exposure to White faces consistently led to more prejudice by making attitudes toward Blacks more negative, rather than by making attitudes toward Whites more positive. A final experiment demonstrated that the pattern of increased prejudice following exposure to Whites was moderated by the strength of participants’ attitudes toward Whites. Only when White attitudes were strong did Black attitudes became more negative after exposure to White faces.     

Teammates On and Off the Field? Contact With Black Teammates and the Racial Attitudes of White Student Athletes1

The intergroup contact hypothesis holds that proximate, cooperative interactions on an equalized basis between Blacks and Whites can minimize Whites’ prejudice (Allport, 1954). This experiment investigated the effect of contact between White and Black high school teammates on White student athletes’ racial attitudes. Using the 1996 Social and Group Experiences (SAGE) survey (created by the authors and administered in the Fall of 1996) commissioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the results indicated a significant relationship between amount of contact with Black teammates in high school and racial policy support and affect, depending on the type of sport played. White student athletes playing team sports who had higher percentages of Blacks as high school teammates expressed more policy support for and greater positive affect toward Blacks as a group than did their counterparts playing individual sports. The role of athletic experiences in changing racial attitudes is discussed.     

Free at last? Social dominance, loss aversion, and White and Black Americans' differing assessments of racial progress

White Americans tend to believe that there has been greater progress toward racial equality than do Black Americans. The authors explain this difference by combining insights from prospect theory and social dominance theory. According to prospect theory, changes seem greater when framed as losses rather than gains. Social dominance theory predicts that White Americans tend to view increases in equality as losses, whereas Black Americans view them as gains. In Studies 1 and 2, the authors experimentally tested whether groups judge the same change differently depending on whether it represents a loss or gain. In Studies 3-6, the authors used experimental methods to test whether White participants who frame equality-promoting changes as losses perceive greater progress toward racial equality. The authors discuss theoretical and political implications for progress toward a just society.     

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.     

Gender and racial favouritism in Black and White preschool girls

The authors examined gender and racial preferential behaviour in 108 3‐ and 5‐year‐old Black and White girls. Children set up a birthday party for dolls that differed in gender and racial physical characteristics. Whereas White girls showed favouritism towards the doll most closely resembling themselves in both gender and race, Black girls showed most favouritism towards the White girl doll. Black girls were more likely to show preference based on gender rather than race, whereas White girls were equally likely to show race‐ or gender‐based favouritism. Among White 5‐year‐olds, greater prior interaction with Blacks was positively associated with race‐related favouritism (i.e., secondary preference to the White boy doll rather than the Black girl doll). Interracial contact was unrelated to racial favouritism among the other three groups. Results demonstrate the salience of gender identity during the preschool years, and indicate that majority/minority status and intergroup contact shape the development of collective identity and social behaviour.     

Racial discrimination by low-prejudiced whites. Facial movements as implicit measures of attitudes related to behavior

We investigated the relationship of implicit racial prejudice to discriminatory behavior. White university students chose the best of three applicants (two were White and one was Black) for a prestigious teaching fellowship. They then completed the Implicit Association Test (IAT), a measure of implicit racial bias. Three weeks later, participants completed a second implicit measure of racial bias by viewing photos of Whites and Blacks while facial electromyography (EMG) was recorded from sites corresponding to the muscles used in smiling and frowning. Analyses revealed that bias in cheek EMG activity was related to the race of the chosen applicant, whereas bias on the IAT was not. Motivations to control prejudiced reactions were not related to EMG activity or the race of the applicant chosen, but were related to IAT bias. The findings indicate that facial EMG can be used as an implicit measure of prejudice related to discrimination.     

(Close) distance makes the heart grow fonder:Improving implicit racial attitudes and interracial interactions through approach behaviors

In 4 studies, the authors examined the effect of approaching Blacks on implicit racial attitudes and immediacy behaviors. In Studies 1-3, participants were trained to pull a joystick toward themselves or to push it away from themselves when presented with photographs of Blacks, Whites, or Asians before completing an Implicit Association Test to measure racial bias. In Study 4, the effect of this training procedure on nonverbal behavior in an interracial contact situation was investigated. Results from the studies demonstrated that approaching Blacks decreased participants' implicit racial prejudice and increased immediacy when interacting with a Black confederate. The implications of these findings for current theories on approach, avoidance, and intergroup relations are discussed.     

High School Guidance Counselor Recommendations: The Role of Student Race,Socioeconomic Status,and Academic Performance

This study explored the relation between student characteristics and counselor recommendations. Based on a sample of 1,713 students, the results indicate that counselors recommended community colleges to students from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds more strongly than to students from higher SES backgrounds and recommended 4‐year institutions more to students from higher SES backgrounds than to students from lower SES backgrounds. White counselors were more likely to recommend admission‐related activities toward 2‐year colleges to White than to Black students. In addition, for upper‐class students, recommendations toward community college were stronger for Whites with low academic performance than for Blacks with low performance; the reverse was true for upper‐class students with strong academic performance. Areas for future research are identified.     

Prejudice in the Lives of Asian Americans

Expressions of prejudice were compared between Asian American and Black, Hispanic, Jewish, and White respondents to social distance and stereotype items on 5 recent nationwide public opinion surveys. There was much prejudice toward Asian Americans. Their prejudice was greatest toward Blacks and Hispanics and least toward Jews and Whites. Among Asian American subgroups, prejudice toward Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites was greatest by Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans; and least by Filipino Americans and Asian Indian Americans. Suggestions are made for further research.     

Model's Race: A Peripheral Cue in Advertising Messages?

Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Social Categorization Theory, an experiment examined minority viewers' use of racial cues on exposure to product advertising. A total of 160 Black adults from a southeastern city rated a garment bag advertisement that featured either a White or a Black model and contained either strong or weak message arguments. Consistent with both theoretical notions, product and advertising evaluations were more favorable given a Black than a White model, but only for Black participants who identify strongly with Black culture. Blacks who identify weakly with Black culture evaluated the product and advertisement similarly given a White or a Black model. The results also showed that the Black model's race motivated Blacks, particularly those with strong racial attitudes, to process the message in a biased manner. In particular, the Black (versus White) model's race positively influenced the Black participants' thoughts about the product, which in turn yielded more favorable product evaluations. The findings suggest that Blacks appear to engage in biased processing (and not simple cue processing) when exposed to Black models in advertising messages.     

Perspective taking and member‐to‐group generalization of implicit racial attitudes: The role of target prototypicality

Actively considering an individual outgroup member's thoughts, feelings, and other subjective experiences —perspective taking— can improve attitudes toward that person's group. Here, we tested whether such member‐to‐group generalization of implicit racial attitudes is more likely when perspective‐taking targets are viewed as prototypical of their racial group. Results supported a gendered‐race‐prototype hypothesis: The positive effect of perspective taking on implicit attitudes toward Black people and Asian people, respectively, was stronger when the perspective‐taking target was a Black man or Asian woman (gender–race prototypical) versus a Black woman or Asian man (gender–race nonprototypical). These findings identify a boundary condition under which perspective taking may not improve intergroup attitudes and add to a growing literature on social cognition at the intersection of multiple social categories.     

Alienable Speech: Ideological Variations in the Application of Free-Speech Principles

Although freedom of speech is a Constitutionally protected and widely endorsed value, political tolerance research finds that people are less willing to protect speech they dislike than speech they like ( Gibson, 2006 ). Research also suggests liberal-conservative differences in political tolerance ( Davis & Silver, 2004 ). We measured U.S. citizens' political tolerance for speech acts, while manipulating the speaker's ethnicity and the speech's ideological content. Speech criticizing Americans was protected more strongly than was speech criticizing Arabs, especially among more politically liberal respondents. Liberals also reported greater free-speech support. Respondents expressed greater political tolerance for a speaker when he was an exemplar of the criticized group, but showed equal political tolerance for speakers whose group membership (as a White or Black American) was irrelevant to the speech. Finally, implicit political identity showed convergent validity with explicit political identity in predicting speech tolerance, and implicit racial and ethnic preferences showed variable prediction of speech tolerance across the two studies.