When do ratings implicate perception versus judgment? The “overgeneralization test” for top-down effects

ABSTRACT

When looking at an object—say, a banana—we can both directly perceive its visual qualities (e.g., its size) and also make higher-level judgments about its visual and non-visual properties (e.g., not only its size, but also its cost). Suppose you obtain a rating of a property such as size. Does that rating implicate seeing or merely higher-level judgment? The answer often matters a great deal -- e.g., determining whether such ratings imply “top-down” effects of cognition on perception. Too often, however, this distinction is ignored in empirical investigations of such effects. Here we suggest a simple test for when such ratings can be used to implicate perception: whenever the very same experiment “overgeneralizes” to an unambiguously non-perceptual factor, the results cannot be used to draw implications about perception, per se. As a case study, we investigate an empirical report alleging that conservatives perceive Barack Obama as darker skinned than liberals do. Two simple experiments show that the very same effects, measured via the same “representativeness” ratings, obtain with unambiguously non-perceptual and even silly factors (involving bright red horns vs. halos, rather than brightness differences). We suggest that this renders such methods unable to implicate visual processing and we recommend that “overgeneralization tests” of this type always be conducted in such contexts.     

Teacher Racism,Academic Self‐Concept,and Multiculturation: Investigating Adaptive and Maladaptive Relations With Academic Disengagement and Self‐Sabotage for Indigenous and Non‐Indigenous Australian Students

The issue of patterns of educational disengagement for Indigenous Australian students has long been of considerable concern within Indigenous education research. Although there is an expanding research base identifying factors that may increase (or decrease) the risk of disengagement for Indigenous students, little acknowledgement has been given to international research highlighting how stigma and discrimination may be associated with student disengagement and the resiliency factors that may nullify these associations. Utilising a sample of 1,376 (305 Indigenous; 1,071 non‐Indigenous) students from five New South Wales high schools in Australia, this study sought to examine the influence of academic self‐concept and two culturally sensitive constructs—specifically, perceived multiculturation (perceived cultural respect) and racial discrimination—on two disengagement‐orientated outcomes: affective disengagement and self‐sabotaging behaviour (behavioural disengagement) for both Indigenous and non‐Indigenous students. The findings showed relatively consistent direct and positive effects of academic self‐concept and direct negative effect of teacher racism for both groups of students. An interaction effect (discrimination × multiculturation) for the Indigenous students only was also identified, which suggested that the negative effects of racial discrimination on self‐sabotaging behaviour are exacerbated when the Indigenous students perceived higher levels of cultural respect from others. Overall, while these findings suggest that promoting higher levels of inter‐cultural respect may be beneficial for Indigenous and non‐Indigenous alike (e.g., culturally inclusive programmes), such positive perceptions may put Indigenous students at greater risk if the impact of racism is not also addressed. The implications of these findings suggest that cultural safety must be framed both in promoting the positive (cultural respect) and in eliminating the negative (racism).     

Anger: Scary Good

I argue that recent attempts to vindicate blame have failed to fully face the vengeful feelings and angry outbursts that have led to scepticism about blame’s ethical status. This paper endeavours to fill that gap. I claim that feelings of angry blame are characteristically responsive to threats to social status, and that angry expressions are distinctive because of their scariness. Still, I conclude, there is an important place for angry blame in good lives and good relationships. In offering a defence of angry feelings and expressions, I argue that blame’s seemingly objectionable features are crucial to its expressive and restorative power.     

Experiences of shame by race and culture: An exploratory study

This study explored experiences of shame in the context of racial and cultural belonging. Participants were a multiracial purposive sample of 11 South Africans (five females and six males, four white, two coloured, two Indian and three black Africans; in the age range between 40 to 61 years). The participants completed a semi-structured interview on their perceptions of shame in the context of family and community. The interview data were analysed utilising interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). Participants from all racial groups considered shame experiences primarily in relation to violation of family and community norms and values. Findings show that male white Afrikaans-speaking participants narrated shameful experiences mainly with regard to the violation of religious (Calvinist) norms and values. Furthermore, the violation of racially constructed boundaries was also likely with females with an Indian and white Afrikaans culture background. Overall, the findings suggest white Afrikaans culture to be less shaming of individuals in comparison to black, coloured, or Indian cultures. Shame beliefs appear to be culturally nuanced in their salience to members or racial-ethno groupings.     

Nonsuicidal self‐injury across cultures and ethnic and racial minorities: A review

The field of nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) is dominated by research conducted with Caucasian‐majority samples in Western countries such as United States, Canada, Australia and European countries. This article critically reviewed the empirical research on NSSI in non‐Western countries and among ethnic/racial minority individuals who live in the West to give voice to and understand the patterns of NSSI among individuals who do not fall within the dominant Caucasian majority. The study found both similarities and differences between Western and non‐Western data in terms of characteristics and functions of NSSI. Differences in gender patterns in regards to prevalence of NSSI and methods used as well as presence of a more relational functionality of NSSI rather than emotion regulation functionality were two points of divergence in the findings of these studies. In addition, the findings seem to indicate that the role of ethnicity/race is mediated by important factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) and gender. Existing gaps in the literature and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

Distinctiveness Reconsidered: Religiosity,Structural Location,and Understandings of Racial Inequality

Are conservative Protestants distinct in their support for individualistic explanations of racial inequality in America? Past research has generated contradictory findings on this question, along with debates about the best measure of evangelicalism and the factors that moderate religious influences on racial attitudes. Using data from the nationally representative Boundaries in the American Mosaic Project (2014), we examine how structural location interacts with religious commitment to influence understandings of and preferred solutions to African‐American disadvantage. We show that religious beliefs, involvement, and centrality influence adherents differently, depending on their age, gender, education, income, and race. We find that measures do matter, and that denominational affiliation is less predictive than the orthodoxy and centrality of religious belief. We also find that straightforward talk about distinctiveness can mask the strong and pervasive effects of structural location on racial attitudes. We call for more research that makes the interaction between religiosity and structural location a central focus of analysis.     

The Minimal Cue Hypothesis: How Black Candidates Cue Race to Increase White Voting Participation

Racial group interests can compete in politics. One way competition may occur is when Black candidates cue racial thinking among Whites, leading to rivalry at the ballot box. I address this hypothesis with theories of identity, affect, and racial cognition. I argue that Black Congressional candidates cue these factors among Whites, leading the factors of White racial prejudice and White race liberalism to impact Whites' voting participation. I employ logistic regression analysis of data from the American National Election Study in 1988, 1992, and 2000. The effects of racial prejudice on the predicted probability of voting occur among all Whites, as well as White Republicans, White Democrats, and White conservatives. The effects of White race liberalism occur among all Whites, as well as White Democrats and White liberals. The effects are strongest when Whites are in elections with Black candidates that are either challengers or in open seats.     

民族与种族社会化的概念、预测因素及理论模型

民族与种族社会化是美国少数民族家庭教养的核心成分, 是父母向子女传递种族和民族特征等信息, 促进子女社会适应的过程。子女的年龄、性别、父母与子女的受歧视经历等影响着父母对子女的民族与种族社会化的内容和时机。目前, 民族与种族社会化运作机制模型的建构, 使民族与种族社会化和青少年的民族认同、自尊、心理健康、学业表现等许多研究得以整合到一个研究范畴之下, 反映出民族与种族社会化研究的重要进展。     

Public Support for Political Compromise on a Volatile Racial Issue: Insight from the Survey Experiment

In 2000, South Carolina officials, after years of political wrangling over the flying of the Confederate flag over the state capitol, finally removed it, placing it at a Confederate monument on the statehouse grounds. Here, via iterative survey experimentation, I look at the public response to the political compromise required to bring down the flag. I show that the public did respond positively to the multifaceted compromise and that black flag opponents were much more likely than white flag proponents to support the compromise. I also show that more white flag proponents can be swayed to support the compromise if they understand that it is supported by a majority of South Carolinians, thus breaking their misperception of the issue. Flag proponents, however, do not respond more positively to compromise simply because it is the by‐product of white and black negotiations. The political process necessarily evokes competitive intergroup attitudes. Can we think about process in a way that redirects these attitudes and makes political compromise more acceptable?