Study: You may be more racist than you think

DaemonSeid · #1 01-09-2009, 09:26 AM

(CNN) -- Would you get upset if you witnessed an act of racism?

A new study shows that many people may unknowingly hold racist views, contrary to how they view themselves.

A new study published Thursday in the journal Science suggests many people unconsciously harbor racist attitudes, even though they see themselves as tolerant and egalitarian.

"This study, and a lot of research in social psychology, suggests that there are still really a lot of negative associations with blacks," said Kerry Kawakami, associate professor of psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario, and lead author of the study. "People are willing to tolerate racism and not stand up against it."

The authors divided 120 non-black participants into the roles of "experiencers" and "forecasters." The "experiencers" were placed in a room with a white person and a black person, who played out pre-arranged scenarios for the experiment. The scenarios began when the black role-player bumped the white role-player's knee when leaving the room.

In the first scenario, the white person did not comment afterwards. In the "moderate" case, the white person said, "Typical, I hate it when black people do that," after the black person left the room. In the "extreme" case, the white person remarked, "Clumsy n****r."

The "forecasters," meanwhile, predicted how they would feel in these situations.

The magnitude of the results surprised even the authors, Kawakami said. Experiencers reported little distress in all three scenarios, much less than the forecasters did in the moderate and severe situations.

"Even using that most extreme comment didn't lead people to be particularly upset," said co-author Elizabeth Dunn, assistant professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.

Immediately afterwards, the participants were asked to choose either the black person or the white person as a partner for an anagram test. More than half of experiencers chose the white partner -- regardless of the severity of the comment that person made earlier. As for the forecasters, less than half chose the white partner when a comment was made, but most chose the white person when no comment was made.

"Some people might think that they're very egalitarian and they don't have to deal with their prejudices, and that's not related to them at all, when in actual fact they may hold these hidden biases," Kawakami said.

The study is consistent with decades of psychology research pointing to the same thing: People are really bad at predicting their own actions in socially sensitive situations.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/07...udy/index.html

I think my only problem with studies like these, especially with the global community being the way it is now, is simply what about the inclusion of other races and their interactions with each other in these types of studies.

cheerfulgreek · #2 01-09-2009, 10:36 AM

I think we all are biased. It's when we act on it is what causes the problem. I mean, anyone can be biased without being considered a racist.

Senusret I · #3 01-09-2009, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cheerfulgreek

I think we all are bias. It's when we act on it is what causes the problem. I mean, anyone can be bias without being considered a racist.

I can agree with that.

SWTXBelle · #4 01-09-2009, 10:58 AM

cue Avenue Q - "Everyone's a little bit racist".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CSnlb-ymA

DrPhil · #5 01-09-2009, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

A new study shows that many people may unknowingly hold PREJUDICE views, contrary to how they view themselves.

THIS JUST IN: Shit stinks.

SWTXBelle · #6 01-09-2009, 11:08 AM

I just hope the good people of Canada didn't have to fund that study with their tax dollars.
It reminds me of a study that found that men paid more attention to a picture of a naked woman than a picture of a triangle. No, really, they have the science to prove it.

preciousjeni · #7 01-09-2009, 11:17 AM

Hasn't this been established over and over? Why do we need another "new" study? There's a site that has interesting bias tests that I can't recall right now, but I know people who have been surprised by the results of those tests.

Kevin · #8 01-09-2009, 11:29 AM

I'd be interested to see what the results of this study would be if the subjects were officers of the Bellaire, TX Police Dept. or of the BART of Oakland.

DaemonSeid · #9 01-09-2009, 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin

I'd be interested to see what the results of this study would be if the subjects were officers of the Bellaire, TX Police Dept. or of the BART of Oakland.

...you forgot New York City...

preciousjeni · #10 01-09-2009, 11:44 AM

I just took the test at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/. It's black/white preference as well as political preference for the 2008 election. I'm not even going to say what my racial preference was except to say that it was "strongly" in one direction. My political preference was "moderately" toward Obama.

KSigkid · #11 01-09-2009, 11:59 AM

Glad I wasn't the only one who thought this study was stating the obvious.

DrPhil · #12 01-09-2009, 12:11 PM

I'm a social scientist so this is "obvious" to me but this is news to the average layperson that I talk to and my average student. There will be a "wow" factor for some, some will be angered because they think this study is telling them they aren't as nice or as progressive as they thought they were, and the rest will be like "DUH."

That's what I find amusing.

These types of studies are to keep the dialogue going and to use updated methods to either debunk or reinforce the things that many consider to be "conventional wisdom." Conventional wisdom is rarely so and we need qual and quant studies to tell us whether we're completely wrong about our assumptions.

KSigkid · #13 01-09-2009, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I'm a social scientist so this is "obvious" to me but this is news to the average layperson that I talk to and my average student. There will be a "wow" factor for some, some will be angered because they think this study is telling them they aren't as nice or as progressive as they thought they were, and the rest will be like "DUH."

That's what I find amusing.

These types of studies are to keep the dialogue going and to use updated methods to either debunk or reinforce the things that many consider to be "conventional wisdom." Conventional wisdom is rarely so and we need qual and quant studies to tell us whether we're completely wrong about our assumptions.

I guess my reaction to the study, as well as my reactions to other similar studies, show why it's a good thing I pursued the law, and not the social sciences, as a career path.

ETA: Although I would be missing something if I didn't acknowledge that this type of study can be used in a number of legal avenues, from jury selection to scholarly writing on the law.

MysticCat · #14 01-09-2009, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

cue Avenue Q - "Everyone's a little bit racist".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9CSnlb-ymA

You beat me to it!

DaemonSeid · #15 01-09-2009, 12:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by preciousjeni

I just took the test at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/. It's black/white preference as well as political preference for the 2008 election. I'm not even going to say what my racial preference was except to say that it was "strongly" in one direction. My political preference was "moderately" toward Obama.

interesting test....

I apparently scored as one who moderately like AfAm more than EurAms and apparently the percentage of those that score in that direction is around 4%.....hmmmm

heh!