Discordant evaluations of Blacks affect nonverbal behavior

Previous research suggests that automatic prejudice directly manifests in nonverbal behavior. The authors offer a more complex picture of the relation between automatic processes and nonverbal behavior by suggesting that any discomfort that appears in nonverbal behavior stems not from negative attitudes per se but from discordance between automatically activated attitudes toward Blacks and the specific evaluations being expressed. White participants for whom estimates of automatic prejudice were available provided videotaped evaluations of several individuals, including two matched Black and White males. Discordance between general racial attitudes and evaluations of specific targets manifested in discomfort-related nonverbal behavior. Moreover, na?ve Black judges, but not White judges, doubted the sincerity of individuals characterized by discordance. The nature of the nonverbal "leakage" that automatic prejudice produces is discussed.