Poisoning the Well and Epistemic Privilege

In this paper, a challenge is outlined for Walton’s recent analysis of the fallacy of poisoning the well. An example of the fallacy in action during a debate on affirmative action on a South African campus is taken to raise the question of how Walton’s analysis squares with the idea that disadvantaged parties in debates about race may be “epistemically privileged”. It is asked when the background of a participant is relevant to a debate and it is proposed that a proper analysis of the poisoning the well will outline conditions under which making one participant’s background an issue in a debate would be legitimate and illegitimate. Expanding Walton’s analysis to deal with the challenge, it is concluded that calling into question a participant’s suitability to take part in a debate is never legitimate when it is based simply on a broad fact about their background (like their race or gender).     

SOME COMMENTS ON CULTURE FAIR TESTS1

An attempt has been made in this paper to show that culture fair tests have some problems associated with them. These tests should be examined and reviewed closely before being used and should not be regarded as the answer to testing the culturally disadvantaged. The following points were made in this paper: Culture fair tests measure different psychological functions. Culture fair tests today measure such functions as spatial visualization, abstract reasoning, perceptual speed, etc. Culture fair tests vary considerably in format. Some are pencil and paper tests, some are performance tests. Some use verbal instructions, others do not. There are many test parameters along which culture fair tests now vary. Some evidence suggests that culture fair tests possibly increase the differential between the culturally disadvantaged and the more advantaged population. Use of these tests may not be in the best interests of minority groups. It is not yet definite about the kind of items on which culturally disadvantaged people perform poorer. Some evidence suggests that they do better on verbal items and worst on perceptual items, which is in contrast to the assumption of most proponents of culture-fair tests. The validity of culture fair tests has not been shown to be better than more traditional tests. In contrast, some research even indicates that they do not show relationships as high. What is to be done, if anything, about the test differentials between the culturally disadvantaged and the majority population? Some individuals (Lorge, 1964; Coffman, 1964) agree that the elimination of group differences on tests is futile and argue that the real task at hand is a realistic attempt to study the behavioral significance of test differences. In essence, this is an all out attempt to collect validation information. Does a particular score for a black have the same behavioral implications of a higher (or lower) test score for a white? Are there criterion differences that are related to test differences? Do differential validities exist for various subgroups? Are the standard errors of estimates different for different groups? This approach is essentially what has been pursued by individuals investigating the “moderating” effects of subgrouping by race and/or socio-economic factors. The investigation of test differences within and between subgroups is called for. In my opinion, attempting to mask test differentials by using culture fair tests may in actuality have a reverse effect than what was intended. Test differentials may actually increase, making it more difficult for culturally disadvantaged individuals to be selected into schools, jobs, etc. Clearly, the construction of culture fair tests is not the only answer to testing the disadvantaged.     

Perceptual-motor development of first graders as related to class,race, intelligence,visual discrimination,and motivation

The Bender Motor Gestalt Test was administered to 60 white advantaged, 60 white disadvantaged, and 60 black disadvantaged first graders. Contrary to expectation, there was no significant difference between the perceptual-motor performance of the white advantaged and disadvantaged children despite meaningful group differences in verbal IQ. The disadvantaged black children, however, performed significantly more poorly than either of the white groups. Perceptual-motor proficiency was also examined in relation to sex, intelligence, accuracy of visual discrimination, level of motivation, and familiarity with test content. While no single factor investigated was clearly related to level of perceptual-motor functioning, the perceptual-motor performance of girls regardless of race or class, was found to improve following familiarization with the test figures and heightening of motivation. The educational implications of a group-specific perceptual-motor “lag” are discussed.     

Stereotype Threat Effects on Learning From a Cognitively Demanding Mathematics Lesson

Stereotype threat—a situational context in which individuals are concerned about confirming a negative stereotype—is often shown to impact test performance, with one hypothesized mechanism being that cognitive resources are temporarily co‐opted by intrusive thoughts and worries, leading individuals to underperform despite high content knowledge and ability (see Schmader & Beilock, 2012 ). We test here whether stereotype threat may also impact initial student learning and knowledge formation when experienced prior to instruction. Predominantly African American fifth‐grade students provided either their race or the date before a videotaped, conceptually demanding mathematics lesson. Students who gave their race retained less learning over time, enjoyed the lesson less, reported a diminished desire to learn more, and were less likely to choose to engage in an optional math activity. The detrimental impact was greatest among students with high baseline cognitive resources. While stereotype threat has been well documented to harm test performance, the finding that effects extend to initial learning suggests that stereotype threat's contribution to achievement gaps may be greatly underestimated.     

Race,social class,and predictive bias: An evaluation using the WISC,WRAT, and teacher ratings

This study evaluated the interrelationships of a brief form of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT), and teacher ratings of classroom achievement in a large sample (n = 7,028) of 6- to 11-year-old children. Additionally, the study focused on the differential accuracy of these measures in predicting achievement among test takers who differed in race and socioeconomic status (SES). Overall, the results indicated a substantial relationship between the WISC and WRAT (r = .67); the WISC and teacher ratings (r = .45); and the WRAT and teacher ratings (r = .55). The relationship between the WISC and WRAT was found to be independent of race but did tend to decrease with increasing SES. The two relationships involving teacher ratings were found to be lower for black children (WISC vs. Teacher ratings, r = .33; WRAT vs. Teacher ratings, r = .47) and for black children tended to decrease with increasing SES. Although the correlational analyses indicated that race and SES functioned as moderator variables to some extent, an evaluation of possible predictive biases when using the common (total sample) regression equation indicated that biases in predicting achievement tended to be small and in some cases favored the socially disadvantaged child.     

Biological conceptions of race and the motivation to cross racial boundaries

The present studies demonstrate that conceiving of racial group membership as biologically determined increases acceptance of racial inequities (Studies 1 and 2) and cools interest in interacting with racial outgroup members (Studies 3-5). These effects were generally independent of racial prejudice. It is argued that when race is cast as a biological marker of individuals, people perceive racial outgroup members as unrelated to the self and therefore unworthy of attention and affiliation. Biological conceptions of race therefore provide justification for a racially inequitable status quo and for the continued social marginalization of historically disadvantaged groups.     

Integrating Criminological and Decision Research Theory: Implications for Understanding and Addressing Crime in Marginalized Communities

Minority groups are significantly overrepresented in crime. Theories of racial differences in crime developed using two separate and distinct approaches that highlight either increased exposure to criminogenic factors at the individual level or greater risk of crime due to disadvantaged neighborhood conditions. Neighborhood theories describe how structural disadvantage disrupts neighborhood social processes and produces oppositional street cultures. In the article, we advance theorizing on race and crime by linking the neighborhood experience to individual-level decision making via new conceptualizations of culture. Rather than a “values as goals” view of culture, culture may include a “tool kit” of ways to solve problems and this cultural toolkit may, in turn, influence how an individual makes decisions. Specifically, culturally learned toolkits may increase flaws in the decision process (e.g., fast and intuitive rather than deliberate decision processes, the use of decision heuristics) to produce more crime, which would explain the association between race and crime. We integrate this conceptualization of culture and these flaws in the decision-making process into rational choice theory at the individual level and describe how they may be exacerbated in disadvantaged neighborhood contexts. Implications for understanding race and crime and directions for future research are discussed.     

Racial attitudes in response to thoughts of white privilege

Thinking about the benefits gained from a privileged group membership can threaten social identity and evoke justification of the existing status difference between the ingroup and a disadvantaged group. For White Americans, racial privilege may be justified by concurring with modern racist attitudes. In Experiment 1, White Americans randomly assigned to think about White privilege expressed greater modern racism compared to those assigned to think about White disadvantage or a race‐irrelevant topic. In Experiment 2, we found that increased racism in response to thoughts of White privilege was limited to those who highly identified with their racial category. In contrast, when White racial identification was sufficiently low, thoughts of White privilege reliably reduced modern racism. We discuss the implications of these findings for the meaning of modern racism and prejudice reduction. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised: Factor structure in a culturally and sociodemographically diverse sample in the United States

The recommended factor structure for the Infant Behavior Questionnaire-Revised (IBQ-R), a widely used parent-report measure of infant temperament, has limited empirical support. Moreover, the recommended factors were developed using homogenous samples not representative of current United States (U.S.) sociodemographics. The objective of this study was to examine the factor structure of the IBQ-R in a culturally and sociodemographically diverse U.S. cohort (N = 380 mother-infant dyads). Mothers were assessed during pregnancy on a range of cultural and sociodemographic characteristics and completed the IBQ-R when their infants were 6 months of age. The sample was diverse on maternal marital status, educational attainment, household income, race/ethnicity, primary language spoken, and country of birth. Initial confirmatory factor analysis for the recommended three-factor model yielded a poor fit. Modifications employed in other studies failed to improve model fit. An exploratory factor analysis revealed an acceptable model fit for a three-factor solution that showed similarities to as well as differences from the originally proposed factor structure. Additional analyses suggested lack of invariance on several factor and scale scores by maternal country of birth, race/ethnicity, and household income. The findings suggest that the commonly used IBQ-R factor structure may need to be adjusted for diverse samples and deserves further study.     

Pity for economically disadvantaged groups motivates donation and ally collective action intentions

We argue that pity can motivate collective action intentions toward groups that are both politically and economically deprived. We tested this connection in four online surveys and an experiment. In Study 1 (N = 1,007), pity for the Roma in Hungary predicted collective action intentions, which was replicated in Study 2 in connection with refugees in Germany (N = 191) and in Hungary (N = 563). Study 3 (N = 475) demonstrated that for not economically but politically disadvantaged groups (e.g., sexual minorities), pity was not a predictor of ally action. In an experiment (Study 4, N = 447), pity was just as strong a predictor of collective action intentions as outrage on behalf of an economically and politically disadvantaged outgroup. Pity can be a mobilizing emotion when it comes to groups that are both economically and politically disadvantaged; however, outrage remains more important in the absence of economic hardship.     

To what extent do investors in a financial market anchor their judgments excessively? Evidence from the Hong Kong horserace betting market

A naturalistic study was employed to explore a new form of “basic anchoring.” In particular, we examined the degree to which decision makers in a financial market, the horserace betting market, anchored their probability judgments excessively on a factor present in the environment at the time the judgments were made and which was relevant and informative to the judgment: the advantage afforded by a horse's barrier‐position (BP). The results demonstrated that under certain conditions bettors anchored excessively on BP information revealed at previous race meetings, but not on the most recent race outcomes. In fact, bettors appeared to use the most recent race outcomes appropriately when forming probability estimates; but only when the results were in line with, what were likely to be, their expectations of BP advantage. Bettors with varying levels of expertise were shown to be subject to excessive anchoring, although greater expertise was generally associated with less excessive anchoring. The paper concludes that the manner and degree of basic anchoring in real‐world environments is complex. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Showing that the race model inequality is not violated

When participants are asked to respond in the same way to stimuli from different sources (e.g., auditory and visual), responses are often observed to be substantially faster when both stimuli are presented simultaneously (redundancy gain). Different models account for this effect, the two most important being race models and coactivation models. Redundancy gains consistent with the race model have an upper limit, however, which is given by the well-known race model inequality (Miller, 1982). A number of statistical tests have been proposed for testing the race model inequality in single participants and groups of participants. All of these tests use the race model as the null hypothesis, and rejection of the null hypothesis is considered evidence in favor of coactivation. We introduce a statistical test in which the race model prediction is the alternative hypothesis. This test controls the Type I error if a theory predicts that the race model prediction holds in a given experimental condition.     

Social Exclusion and the Transition from School to Work: The Case of Young People Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET)

In the modern labor market what Côté (1996) describes as “identity capital”—comprising educational, social, and psychological resources—is at a premium in entering and maintaining employment. One consequence is the extension of education and training while young people acquire the qualifications and skills that will enhance their employability. In accordance with the perspective of life span developmental psychology, this places particular pressure on those young people growing up in disadvantaged circumstances and lacking support, especially when attempting to negotiate the transition from school to work. A particular policy concern in Britain has been directed at those young people who leave full-time education at the minimum age of 16 and then spend a substantial period not in education, employment, or training (NEET). This article reports the result of analyzing longitudinal data, collected for a subsample of the 1970 British Birth Cohort Study surveyed at age 21, to model the relationship of NEET status to earlier educational achievement and circumstances and to assess the added difficulties NEET poses in relation to the building of adult identity capital. It is concluded that although poor educational achievement is the major factor in entering NEET, inner city living for boys and lack of parental interest in their education for girls are also important. For young men the consequences of NEET lie mainly in subsequent poor labor market experience. For young women, the majority of whom are teenage mothers, the damaging effects of NEET extend to the psychological domain as well. It is concluded that effective counseling targeted at high risk groups, along the lines of the new UK “ConneXions” service, are needed to help young people avoid the damaging effects of NEET and make a successful transition to adult life.     

Sentiment de compétence paternelle et adaptation socioaffective des enfants de deux à six ans en contexte de précarité socioéconomique

How fathers perceive their paternal competence when they live in disadvantaged conditions and how it affects young children's socioemotional behaviors? One hundred and eighty-seven fathers of 2 to 6 years old children completed the Child Behavior CheckList as well as the Parenting Sense of Competence Scale. Living in disadvantaged conditions, fathers feel in average less competent in their paternal role (P < 0.05) and children manifest more socioemotional problems (P = 0.001). However, children's behaviours are not affected by socioeconomic disadvantage when paternal sense of competence is strong. These results highlight the importance to take into consideration paternal sense of competence when treating young children's socioemotional problems living in disadvantaged conditions.     

A threat in the computer: the race implicit association test as a stereotype threat experience

Three experiments test whether the threat of appearing racist leads White participants to perform worse on the race Implicit Association Test (IAT) and whether self-affirmation can protect from this threat. Experiments 1 and 2 suggest that White participants show a stereotype threat effect when completing the race IAT, leading to stronger pro-White scores when the test is believed to be diagnostic of racism. This effect increases for domain-identified (highly motivated to control prejudice) participants (Experiment 2). In Experiment 3, self-affirmation inoculates participants against stereotype threat while taking the race IAT. These findings have methodological implications for use of the race IAT and theoretical implications concerning the malleability of automatic prejudice and the potential interpersonal effects of the fear of appearing racist.     

Redundancy gains and coactivation with two different targets: The problem of target preferences and the effects of display frequency

When a visual display contains two targets, both of which require the same response, reaction times (RTs) are faster than when only one target appears. This effect has previously been obtained regardless of whether the redundant targets are the same or different in shape, and in at least one set of two-target experiments, the redundancy gains have been larger for different targets (Grice & Reed, 1992). Experiments with two different targets have also revealed violations of the race-model inequality, suggesting that redundant targets coactivate the response (Miller, 1982). The present paper reexamines both of these findings, because both appear to be inconsistent with the interactive race model (Mordkoff & Yantis, 1991). Experiment 1 shows that the race-model inequality is not violated when the experimental design is free of biased contingencies; Experiment 1 also provides evidence that target preferences may artifactually produce the RT advantage fordifferent- oversame-target trials. Experiment 2, however, shows that the race-model inequality is violated when the frequencies of single- and redundant-target displays are equated (without introducing any biased contingencies), implying that the interactive race model cannot account for the results of experiments involving more than one type of target. Alternative loci for coactivation are briefly discussed.     

Racial‐ethnic Identity in Context: Examining Mediation of Neighborhood Factors on Children's Academic Adjustment

Research consistently shows that neighborhood socio‐demographic characteristics and residents’ neighborhood perceptions matter for youth well‐being, including a positive sense of racial‐ethnic identity. Although elementary‐school children are likely in the earlier phases of identity formation, the authors examined whether objective and subjective neighborhood characteristics are related to their racial‐ethnic identity and, in turn, their academic adjustment. A diverse sample (30.4% African American, 35.2% White, 12.3% Latino, & 22.0% Other) of 227 children in Grades 2 through 5 were surveyed in afterschool programs. Bivariate correlations showed that youth living in disadvantaged neighborhoods reported more barriers due to their race‐ethnicity, but these barriers were not related to their sense of academic efficacy. Residing in a disadvantaged neighborhood was unrelated to youth's academic self‐efficacy. However, path analyses showed that positive neighborhood perceptions were associated with a stronger sense of race‐ethnicity (i.e., affirmation and belonging), which was in turn related to greater academic efficacy. These results suggest that neighborhood connection provides a source of affirmation and value for young children, helping them to understand who they are as part of a racial‐ethnic group and helping to foster a sense of future achievement opportunities. This study provides additional evidence that along with other important proximal contexts (e.g., family, school), young children's neighborhood context is important for development. Results are discussed to highlight environmental influences on young children's awareness of race‐ethnicity and the implications of the combined impact of neighborhood and racial‐ethnic identity on psychosocial adjustment.     

Who's Watching the Race? Racial Salience in Recruitment Advertising1

A recent finding (Thomas & Wise, 1999) suggested that the race of organizational representatives may be more important to minority applicants than to White applicants. Consequently, this study empirically examines the impact of race in recruitment advertising on applicant attraction. Participants (N= 194) were recruited in 3 field settings and were exposed to recruitment literature varying the race of a depicted organizational representative. Results indicate that Black and Hispanic participants were more attracted when minority representatives were depicted; White participants' reactions were unaffected by representative race. Moreover, the extent to which participants believed themselves to be similar to the representative fully mediated the effect for minority participants.     

Intersectional Consciousness in Collective Victim Beliefs: Perceived Intragroup Differences Among Disadvantaged Groups

Although our experiences are shaped by multiple social identities such as race, class, and gender, most research has focused on single‐identity groups (e.g., race). This includes research on collective victimization, which assumes that violence impacts group members uniformly. Conversely, work on intersectional consciousness examines awareness of how multiple social identities intersect and create within‐group differences. Integrating and expanding the research on intersectional consciousness and on collective victimhood, this article investigates perceived intragroup differences in experiences of victimization stemming from intersecting identities of gender and class among two disadvantaged groups in the understudied context of India. We conducted individual interviews (N = 33) and focus groups (K = 12; N = 66) among Muslims and Dalits (lower‐caste Hindus). Thematic analysis revealed that—even though ingroup cohesion (i.e., intragroup similarity) is often enhanced by external threat— people expressed awareness of intragroup differences in experiences of victimization in three distinct ways: highlighting relative privilege, engaging in competitive victimhood, or describing qualitative differences. We discuss the implications for conflict and solidarity within minority groups in the context of political developments in India, where there have been attempts to polarize intragroup divisions.