aversive form of racism samuel gaertner & john dovidio
Post on 19-Dec-2015
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TRANSCRIPT
Historical Change
• White attitudes less racist, more tolerant
• Subtle, indirect prejudice continues
– “Racist feelings and beliefs among white Americans are generally the rule rather than the exception.”
Aversive Racists
• Sympathize with victims of past injustice
• Support policies for promoting equality
• Still possess negative feelings & beliefs:– Cognitive basis in info processing (blacks
assoc. with poverty, crime, welfare)– Not hostility or hatred, but “discomfort,
uneasiness, disgust, and sometimes fear.”– Unable to recognize institutional racism
Question
• Gaertner & Dovidio cite Kovel on “aversive” racism
• But is this “aversive” racism or how attitudes work in conditions of “metaracism”?
Studies:“pro-social” behavior
• Wrong-number phone calls
• Anagram task
• Cognitive ability task
• Bystander helping
• Adjective association
Wrong-number calls
Black White
Conservatives help 65% 92%
Liberals help (n.s.) 75% 85%
Conservatives hang up 8% 5%
Liberals hang up 19% 3%
“Black” vs. “White” callers asked S-s to call car garage
Interpretation
• Conservatives: blatant prejudice
• Liberals:
– where norms strong (after hearing request), no prejudice
– Before norms come into effect, prejudice
Anagram Helping Task
• Design: 2 x 2 x 2 factorial -- white S-s
– White vs. black student confederates
– Internal cause (failure to work hard) vs. external cause (difficulty of task)
– First party request vs. 3rd party request
• Dependent Variable: White S-s help or don’t help confederate
White vs. black “student” confederates ask S-s for help
Anagram Helping Task
• Results
– External cause: equal helping
– 3rd party request: equal helping
– Internal cause
+ self-request: 73% whites helped
33% blacks helped
Interpretation
• Where norms for helping salient --external cause; bystander request -- helping not discriminatory
• Where norms for helping not salient --internal cause, self-request -- helping is discriminatory.
Cognitive Task Help-Seeking
• Design: 2 x 2 white S-s– Black vs. white “partners” (confederates)– Help offered vs. help sought
• Results:– Offered: 80% S-s accepted from black
55% S-s accepted from white
– Solicited: 40% S-s asked help from black
60% S-s asked help from white
Black / white “partners” offer help; S-s may ask for help.
Interpretation
• When black asks for help, both hi-prejudice & low-prejudice subjects help
• When norms for helping strong, helping not discriminatory
Note Interaction Effect: S helps black more than white when asked, & S asks whites more than blacks for help
Bystander Helping
• Background:
– Darley & Latane paradigm:
More bystanders less help
• Design: 2 x 2 White S-s
– Chairs fall on confed during “ESP” exp
– White vs. Black “victims”
– Subject alone vs. with other bystanders
White bystanders may help white or black “victim.”
Bystander Helping: Results
• Victim alone:– S-s help 94% of blacks vs. 81% of
whites (n.s.)
• Victim with bystanders:
– S-s help 38% of blacks vs. 75% of whites
Adjective Association Task
• Task: decide whether string of letters is a word– Measure reaction time
• Design: 2 x 2 White S-s– Positive vs. negative adjectives– Paired with “whites” or “blacks”
White students try to recognize words.
Adjective Assoc. Task: Results
• Negative adjectives:– No differences paired w/ “whites” or “blacks”
• Positive adjectives:– Faster reactions when paired w/ “whites” than
“blacks”
• No difs between hi- & low-prejudice S-s
• Whites associate positive traits with whites
Conclusions
• Helping behavior:
– Where norms for helping clear & strong, whites do not discriminate
– Where norms ambiguous or weak, whites do discriminate
Conclusions
• Associations:
– Blacks not evaluated as more lazy, stupid, or dirty
– Whites evaluated as more ambitious, smart and clean
Conclusions
In most studies, high-prejudice whites and low-prejudice whites don’t differ much in their behavior.
Conclusions
“Prejudiced thinking and discrimination still exist, but the contemporary forms are more subtle, more indirect, and less overtly negative…”
“The contemporary form of prejudice is expressed in ways that protect and perpetuate a nonprejudiced, non-discriminating self-image.”
Conclusions
“Attempts to educate people to accept egalitarian ideals would have little impact on aversive racists…”
“Like a virus that mutates into new forms, old-fashioned prejudice seems to have evolved into a new type that is, at least temporarily, resistant to traditional attitude-change remedies…”