Essentialism and Racial Bias Jointly Contribute to the Categorization of Multiracial Individuals

Psychological Science

Volumn 26, Issue 10, 2015, Pages 1639-1645

  Ho, Arnold K ^a   Roberts, Steven O ^a   Gelman, Susan A ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN   (United States)

Author keywords

essentialism; hypodescent; multiracial person perception; negativity bias; social categorization

Indexed keywords

ADULT; BLACK PERSON; CAUCASIAN; FEMALE; HUMAN; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MOTIVATION; PSYCHOLOGY; RACISM; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; SOCIAL BEHAVIOR; STEREOTYPING; YOUNG ADULT;

ADULT; AFRICAN CONTINENTAL ANCESTRY GROUP; EUROPEAN CONTINENTAL ANCESTRY GROUP; FEMALE; HUMANS; MALE; MIDDLE AGED; MOTIVATION; RACISM; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; SOCIAL IDENTIFICATION; STEREOTYPING; YOUNG ADULT;

EID: 84944450203     PISSN: 09567976     EISSN: 14679280     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0956797615596436     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Y.Bar-AnanB.A.Nosek (2014). A comparative investigation of seven indirect attitude measures. Behavior Research Methods, 46, 668–688.
2. B.BastianN.Haslam (2006). Psychological essentialism and stereotype endorsement. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 228–235.
3. M.M.ChaoY.HongC.Chiu (2013). Essentializing race: Its implications on racial categorization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 619–634.
4. J.M.ChenD.L.Hamilton (2012). Natural ambiguities: Racial categorization of multiracial individuals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 152–164.
5. J.M.ChenW.G.MoonsS.E.GaitherD.L.HamiltonJ.W.Sherman (2014). Motivation to control prejudice predicts categorization of multiracials. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 590–603.
6. J.M.ChenK.Ratliff (2015). Implicit attitude generalization from Black to Black-White biracial group members. Social Psychological & Personality Science, 6, 544–550.
7. F.J.Davis (1991). Who is Black? One nation’s definition. In S.Plous (Ed.), Understanding prejudice and discrimination (pp. 49–62). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
8. D.C.Dennett (1995). Darwin’s dangerous idea: Evolution and the meanings of life. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
9. S.A.Gelman (2003). The essential child: Origins of essentialism in everyday thought. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
10. J.HalberstadtS.J.ShermanJ.W.Sherman (2011). Why Barack Obama is Black: A cognitive account of hypodescent. Psychological Science, 22, 29–33.
11. N.HaslamL.RothschildD.Ernst (2000). Essentialist beliefs about social categories. British Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 113–127.
12. A.K.HoJ.SidaniusA.J.C.CuddyM.R.Banaji (2013). Status boundary enforcement and the categorization of Black-White multiracials. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 940–943.
13. A.K.HoJ.SidaniusD.T.LevinM.R.Banaji (2011). Evidence for hypodescent and racial hierarchy in the categorization and perception of multiracial individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 492–506.
14. K.KahnA.K.HoJ.SidaniusF.Pratto (2009). The space between us and them: Perceptions of status differences. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 12, 591–604.
15. D.KahnemanA.Tversky (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. The Econometric Society, 47, 263–292.
16. K.D.KinzlerJ.B.Dautel (2012). Children’s essentialist reasoning about language and race. Developmental Science, 15, 131–138.
17. A.R.KroschD.M.Amodio (2014). Economic scarcity alters the perception of race. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 111, 9079–9084.
18. A.R.KroschL.BerntsenD.M.AmodioJ.T.JostJ.J.Van Bavel (2013). On the ideology of hypodescent: Political conservatism predicts categorization of racially ambiguous faces as Black. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 1196–1203.
19. N.KteilyS.CotterillJ.SidaniusJ.Sheehy-SkeffingtonR.Bergh (2014). “Not one of us”: Predictors and consequences of denying ingroup characteristics to ambiguous targets. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 1231–1247.
20. D.PeeryG.V.Bodenhausen (2008). Black + White = Black: Hypodescent in reflexive categorization of racially ambiguous faces. Psychological Science, 19, 973–977.
21. D.A.PrenticeD.T.Miller (2007). Psychological essentialism of human categories. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 202–206.
22. M.RhodesS.A.Gelman (2009). Five-year-olds’ beliefs about the discreteness of category boundaries for animals and artifacts. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 16, 920–924.
23. M.RhodesS.A.GelmanJ.C.Karuza (2014). Preschool ontology: The role of beliefs about category boundaries in early categorization. Journal of Cognition and Development, 15, 78–93.
24. S.O.RobertsS.A.Gelman (in press). Do children see in black and white? Children’s and adults’ categorizations of multiracial individuals. Child Development.
25. C.D.RodehefferS.E.HillC.G.Lord (2012). Does this recession make me look Black? The effect of resource scarcity on the categorization of multiracial faces. Psychological Science, 23, 1476–1478.
26. P.RozinE.B.Royzman (2001). Negativity bias, negativity dominance, and contagion. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 5, 296–320.
27. J.SidaniusS.LevinF.Pratto (1996). Consensual social dominance orientation and its correlates within the hierarchical structure of American society. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 20, 385–408.
28. J.SidaniusF.Pratto (1999). Social dominance: An intergroup theory of social hierarchy and oppression. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
29. S.E.Taylor (1991). Asymmetrical effects of positive and negative events: The mobilization-minimization hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin, 110, 67–85.
30. M.J.WilliamsJ.L.Eberhardt (2008). Biological conceptions of race and the motivation to cross racial boundaries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 1033–1047.