Aversive Racism and Common Identity

Jordan Daley and Dr. Blake Riek

Aversive Racism Changing social norms Ambiguity

◦ Gaertner & Dovidio, 2005

Endorse equality, display prejudice Anxiety, discomfort, fear

◦ Pearson, Dovidio, & Gaertner, 2009

Implicit bias High motivation to control, high prejudice

◦ Gawronski, Peters, Brochu, & Strack, 2008

Ingroup (a group which an individual psychologically identifies with)

Intergroup relations Equal status, common goals, intergroup

cooperation, and support of authority◦ Allport, 1954

Decategorization/Recategorization◦ Gaertner & Dovidio, 2012

Common Identity Model

Calvin H***

Shared Major

Republican Democrat

SharedSports Team

Does a common identity have the ability to alleviate or eliminate the effects of aversive racism?

Common identity - Calvin College Hypothesis.. Dovidio & Gaertner, 2000 Nier, Gaertner, Dovidio, Banker, Ward, & Rust, 2001

Current Study

Calvin College

Calvin College

Participants - 125 Calvin College Undergraduates White (Some eliminated) Enrolled in an Introductory Psychology

course◦ Compensation = Class credit

Methods:

Other notes: Using deception and controllingfor race of experimenter

Calvin College

Oberlin College

Independent Variables:◦ Race◦ Common Identity

Dependent Variables:◦ Attitude toward victim◦ Attitude toward police◦ Evaluation of victim’s actions◦ Evaluation of police’s actions◦ Overall view of the situation◦ Empathy for the victim

Variables:

*Perception of the victim

RaceB W

Com

mon

Iden

tity

Pres

ent

Abse

nt

Example Questions.. After reading this article how hostile do you feel toward

Randal Johnson? After reading this article how warm do you feel toward the

police officers involved? Did Randal Johnson’s actions warrant/deserve the response

the police gave? While they were mistaken, the police were justified in their

actions. Overall, how upset are you about what happened to Randal

Johnson? How compassionate do you feel toward Randal Johnson?

*Media perception questions included*Likert Scale

Political ideology View on discrimination Typicality of victim (only in common identity

condition)

Secondary Measures:

What we expect..

Hypothesis #1 – Common Identity Model

Hypothesis #2 – Black Sheep Effect

Emphasize typical responses Derogation of ingroup member Marques, Yzerbytc, & Leyens, 1988

The Black Sheep Effect

Black Sheep Effect

Current Relevance

Eric Garner7/17/2014

Michael Brown 8/9/2014

Freddie Gray4/12/2015Trayvon Martin

2/26/2012

So what did we get?

*A significant correlation, p < .05

The Dependent Variables

The Dependent Variables

Main Effects

AND

Calvin College Oberlin College

What’s the relationship?

Political ideology as predictor?

?

Political ideology (1-10)◦ Mean: 6.34 (Conservative)◦ Median: 6 (Median)*U.S. is split about evenhttp://www.gallup.com/poll/183386/social-ideology-left-catches-right.aspx

Social/Cultural context◦ Shoichet, 2015, Walker, 2015

Social Desirability ◦ Fisher, 2008

Some explanations…

Questions…?