Whites' and Asian Americans' Perceptions of Asian Americans as Targets of Affirmative Action1

Although Asian Americans are technically a protected group, perceptions of Asian Americans as targets of affirmative action are largely unexplored, as are the attitudes of Asian Americans toward affirmative action. This study compared Whites' (N = 142) and Asian Americans' (N = 85) perceptions of workplace‐related discrimination and affirmative action beneficiary status for Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Whites and Asian Americans agreed that Asian Americans experience less adverse impact on tests and benefit less from affirmative action than do Blacks or Hispanics. However, Asian Americans were more likely than Whites to perceive that Asian Americans suffer from discrimination and underrepresentation and should benefit from affirmative action.     

Hispanic Prejudice in the United States

Hispanics recently became the nation's largest minority. By 2050, they will be one third of the population. As their power and influence grows, it is important to have knowledge of their prejudice. There are many studies of prejudice toward Hispanics, largely negative; but little is known about their prejudice toward others. To provide more knowledge of the subject, responses by 758 Hispanics to items about prejudice contained on nationwide surveys were analyzed. Hispanics generally preferred their own kind for marriage and as neighbors. They saw many differences between themselves and Blacks, Asians, Jews, and Whites with respect to intelligence and to being wealthy, hardworking, and prone to violence. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Ethnic characteristics of mental disorders in five U.S. communities

The study examined the ethnic ratio of 16 DSM-III mental disorders among White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian Americans. A total of 18,126 residents from 5 sites and 2,939 residents from the Epidemiological Catchment Area's Los Angeles site were studied separately. Logistic regression analysis was performed. Results showed that Blacks were significantly less likely than Whites to have major depressive episode, major depression, dysthymia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, drug and alcohol abuse or dependence, antisocial personality, and anorexia nervosa, but they were significantly more likely than Whites to have phobia and somatization. Lifetime prevalence rates of schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic, and drug abuse or dependence were significantly lower among Hispanics than among Whites. Asians also had significantly lower rates than Whites of schizophreniform, manic episode, bipolar disorder, panic, somatization, drug and alcohol abuse or dependence, and antisocial personality. Compared with the overall findings, ethnic differences at the Los Angeles site were lessened between Blacks and Whites, enhanced between Hispanics and Whites, and basically unchanged between Asians and Whites.     

The contact hypothesis revisited: status bias in the reduction of implicit prejudice in the United States and Lebanon

Although 50 years of research demonstrate that friendly intergroup contact reduces intergroup prejudice, the findings are based solely on self-reported, explicit prejudice. In two parallel experiments examining intergroup contact and prejudice-between Whites and Blacks in the United States (Experiment 1) and between Christians and Muslims in Lebanon (Experiment 2)-we examined whether intergroup status differences moderate contact effects on implicit prejudice, as well as explicit prejudice. Both experiments replicated the standard effect of contact on explicit prejudice. They also demonstrated that intergroup contact reduces implicit prejudice among low-status groups. In Experiment 1, the implicit prejudice of Blacks toward Whites (but not Whites toward Blacks) was reduced as a function of friendly contact. In Experiment 2, the implicit prejudice of Muslims toward Christians (but not Christians toward Muslims) was reduced as a function of friendly contact.     

Social Distance as a Measure of Prejudice Among Ethnic Groups in the United States

Data from surveys representative of the population of the United States were used to investigate 2 aspects of social distance as a measure of prejudice among Hispanics, non-Hispanic Whites, Jews, Asians, and Blacks. The results extended through 2000 a 65-year decline in prejudice. But, contrary to expectations, these groups were, on average, significantly opposed to virtually all other ethnic groups living in their neighborhoods or marrying their close relatives. The findings suggest that the popular hierarchical explanation of social distances with Whites at the top, Jews next, followed by Asians and Hispanics, and Blacks at the bottom is incorrect. A more accurate explanation is proposed.     

“You're overreacting!”: The ambiguity of Asian American microaggressions delegitimizes collective action

Asian Americans are lauded as the model minority who are intelligent and industrious. Simultaneously, they are deemed as perpetual foreigners. The current research examines how racial microaggressions expressed by a White American source toward an Asian American target affect perceptions of the perpetrator and target. White Americans and Asian Americans read about an interaction between two college students, where the racial microaggression made was either an ambiguous expression of the model minority myth (MMM; all studies), an ambiguous perpetual foreigner stereotype (all studies), an unambiguous MMM (all studies), or no racial bias (Studies 2 and 3). Findings indicate that both Whites and Asian Americans respond differently—when exposed to the aforementioned conditions—regarding perceived racism of the White perpetrator and appropriateness of response by the Asian American target; however, they respond similarly regarding perceived legitimacy of collective action by the target. Nevertheless, Whites and Asian Americans deemed the ambiguous microaggression against the target as a model minority not racist relative to unambiguous MMM. Our findings show that ambiguous forms of bias toward Asian Americans go “under the radar” of both Whites and Asian Americans as being racist and contribute to the maintenance of the racial status quo.     

Positive God Images and Positive Emotions toward God: Exploring Variations among Whites,Blacks, and Hispanics

How people view God is an important part of religious life. The purpose of this study is to see if four positive God image measures and two measures of positive emotions toward God vary among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. The data come from a recent nationwide survey in the United States (N = 2500). The findings reveal that, compared to Whites and Hispanics, Blacks have more positive image of God scores on all four measures. The data indicate that Blacks are also more likely than Whites and Hispanics to have strong positive emotions toward God. In contrast, consistent differences between Hispanics and Whites failed to emerge across all of the study measures.     

Saying no to negativity: The effects of context and motivation to control prejudice on automatic evaluative responses

The current research explored the interaction of context and motivation to control prejudice reactions (MCPR) on automatic evaluative responses toward individuals of different races. Three studies incorporated contextual backgrounds into an evaluative priming procedure. Across all three studies, White participants low in MCPR demonstrated automatic ingroup biases when threatening contexts were presented. However, in contexts where targets could be construed as threatening, Whites high in MCPR showed automatic outgroup biases in favor of Blacks over Whites. Importantly, this outgroup bias was driven by an automatic inhibition of negative responses toward Blacks. The results indicate that even at the automatic level, people high in motivation to control prejudice can inhibit negative responses toward Blacks in contexts that have cues associated with prejudice.     

Own-Ethnicity Bias in the Recognition of Black,East Asian,Hispanic, and White Faces

Black, East Asian, Hispanic, and White young adult Americans were asked to view and later recognize ethnic faces (Black, East Asian, Hispanic, and White) of children and young adults in a study of own-ethnicity and own-age bias. Own-ethnicity and own-age biases were found. Hispanics recognized Hispanic and White faces better than Asian and Black faces, Blacks recognized Black and White faces better than Asian and Hispanic faces, Asians recognized Asian faces better than Black faces and marginally better than White and Hispanic faces, and Whites recognized White faces better than those of other ethnicities. Results are discussed with respect to contact and facial encoding hypotheses.     

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.     

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.     

Asymmetrical effects of contact between minority groups: Asian and Black students in a small college

Recent meta-analyses of intergroup contact research revealed that majority members' attitudes toward minorities are improved to a greater degree by contact compared to those of minority members (Tropp & Pettigrew, 2005). While previous research focused on contact between majority and minority groups, this study explored effects of intergroup contact between two minority groups that differ in status: Black and Asian college students. Because of different stereotypes and social status, the college experiences of the two groups were expected to differ in the extent to which they felt their group was respected by others (public regard). A survey conducted with 104 Black and Asian American students in a small, Midwestern liberal arts college demonstrated that the two groups differed in public regard, which led to differences in attitudes toward the majority Whites, contact with Whites, experiences of discrimination, and trust in college authorities. Further, while contact with Black students was positively associated with more favorable attitudes toward Blacks for Asians (higher status minority), contact with Asian students was not related to attitudes toward Asians for Blacks (lower status minority). The role of public regard and attitudes toward the majority as potential moderators of the relationship between contact with Asians and Blacks' attitudes toward Asians were explored. Implications for multicultural solidarity between targeted groups were discussed.     

Stereotype content model explains prejudice for an envied outgroup: Scale of anti-Asian American Stereotypes

The Stereotype Content Model hypothesizes anti-Asian American stereotypes differentiating two dimensions: (excessive) competence and (deficient) sociability. The Scale of Anti-Asian American Stereotypes (SAAAS) shows this envious mixed prejudice in six studies. Study 1 began with 131 racial attitude items. Studies 2 and 3 tested 684 respondents on a focused 25-item version. Studies 4 and 5 tested the final 25-item SAAAS on 222 respondents at three campuses; scores predicted outgroup friendships, cultural experiences, and (over)estimated campus presence. Study 6 showed that allegedly low sociability, rather than excessively high competence, drives rejection of Asian Americans, consistent with system justification theory. The SAAAS demonstrates mixed, envious anti-Asian American prejudice, contrasting with more-often-studied contemptuous racial prejudices (i.e., against Blacks).     

A new threat in the air: Macroeconomic threat increases prejudice against Asian Americans

Macroeconomic conditions have long been suspected of increasing hostility toward ethnic outgroups. Integrating prior work on macroeconomic threat with recent threat-based models of prejudice, the current work employs an experimental approach to examine the implications of economic threat for prejudice toward ethnic outgroups. In Study 1, participants primed with an economic threat (relative to a non-economic threat and neutral topic) reported more prejudice against Asian Americans, an ethnic group whose stereotype implies a threat to scarce employment opportunities. In addition, economic threat led to a heightened state of anxiety, which mediated the influence of economic threat on prejudice against Asian Americans. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings by demonstrating that economic threat heightened prejudice against Asian Americans, but not Black Americans, an ethnic group whose stereotype does not imply a threat to economic resources. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role of macroeconomic conditions in potentiating antisocial responses to particular outgroups.     

The Nature of Contemporary Prejudice: Insights from Aversive Racism

Within the United States, declines in the overt expression of racial prejudice over several decades have given way to near universal endorsement of the principles of racial equality as a core cultural value. Yet, evidence of persistent and substantial disparities between Blacks and Whites remain. Here, we review research that demonstrates how the actions of even well-intentioned and ostensibly non-prejudiced individuals can inadvertently contribute to these disparities through subtle biases in decision making and social interactions. We argue that current racial attitudes of Whites toward Blacks in the United States are fundamentally ambivalent, characterized by a widespread contemporary form of racial prejudice, aversive racism , that is manifested in subtle and indirect ways, and illustrate its operation across a wide range of settings, from employment and legal decisions, to group problem-solving and everyday helping behavior. We conclude by describing research aimed at combating these biases and identify new avenues for future research.     

Ethnic identity, self-esteem, and ethnocentrism: a study of social identity versus multicultural theory of development

Social identity theory (SIT) proposes that the more strongly individuals identify with their group, the less favorable attitudes they hold toward dissimilar groups. In contrast, multicultural theory proposes that affirmation toward one's group--particularly with respect to ethnicity--should correspond with higher levels of acceptance toward dissimilar groups. These competing theories were examined with 486 non-Hispanic White, African American, and Hispanic/Latino university students to determine if support would be found for either theory. Consistent with SIT, levels of ethnic identity correlated significantly with levels of ethnocentrism for Whites and Hispanics but not for African Americans. African Americans obtained significantly higher ethnic identity and self-esteem scores than the other 2 groups. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Separation-individuation in late adolescence: an investigation of gender and ethnic differences

Gender and ethnic differences in separation-individuation were assessed in a sample of 125 male and 175 female undergraduates (M age = 19.56, SD = 1.29) self-identified as White, African American, Hispanic, or Asian. Measures used included a demographic questionnaire and the Separation-Individuation Test of Adolescence (SITA; J. B. Levine, C. J. Green, & T. Millon, 1986; J. B. Levine & S. Saintogne, 1993). Except for results showing a greater tendency among the men to shun dependent ties and a superior capacity for forming close peer attachments among the women, separation-individuation development tended to be indistinguishable between the genders. Additional findings suggest that (a) Hispanics, Asians, and African Americans are more concerned with engulfment fears and needs for nurturance than Whites are; (b) Asians are more apt to shun dependent ties than Whites are; and (c) compared with Whites, African Americans anticipate rejection more and are less adept at forming close attachments with teachers.     

Gender differences in young Asian Americans' educational attainments

In this paper, data from the 1986 follow-up of a national probability sample of 1980 high school seniors are examined: (a) to determine whether gender differences exist in the educational attainment of Asian-American youth and compare these differences with those found among other groups (Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, and Whites), (b) to confirm that immigrant status and ethnicity account for Asian-American men's and women's educational attainment (as suggested by the literature), and (c) to determine if immigrant status and ethnicity are differentially related to the men's and women's educational attainment. The findings suggest that young Asian-American females reach high levels of educational attainment more quickly than young Asian-American males, and that the differences are particularly noteworthy among immigrants (or the children of immigrants) and Chinese Americans.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Boston, April 1990. The author is grateful to Robert Gardner and Kathleen Berg for their helpful reviews.     

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.     

When being a model minority is good . . . and bad: realistic threat explains negativity toward Asian Americans

The current research explores the hypothesis that realistic threat is one psychological mechanism that can explain how individuals can hold positive stereotypical beliefs toward Asian Americans yet also express negative attitudes and emotions toward them. Study 1 demonstrates that in a realistic threat context, attitudes and emotions toward an anonymous group described by only positive, "model minority" attributes are significantly more negative than when the group was described using other positive attributes. Study 2 demonstrates that realistic threat significantly mediates the relationship between (a) the endorsement of the both the positive and negative stereotypes of Asian Americans and (b) subsequent negative attitudes and emotions toward them. Studies 3 and 4 conceptually replicate this effect in experimental situations involving interactions with Asian Americans in realistic threat contexts. Implications for understanding the nature of stereotyping and prejudice toward Asian Americans and other minority groups are discussed.