Minimal but not meaningless: Seemingly arbitrary category labels can imply more than group membership.

2019 ◽

Vol 38 (5-6) ◽

pp. 756-772 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mauro Bianchi ◽

Andrea Carnaghi ◽

Valentina Piccoli ◽

Marta Stragà ◽

Davide Zotti

Keyword(s):

Experimental Test ◽

Group Membership ◽

Social Acceptability ◽

Expressive Function ◽

Category Labels ◽

Group Members

By using a pseudoword paradigm, we tested whether derogatory labels (e.g., pejorative labels addressing group members) differed from category labels and general slur in their descriptive (i.e., pointing to group membership) and expressive functions (i.e., perceived offensiveness and social acceptability). Results indicated that derogatory labels were similar to category labels in their descriptive function, and had higher expressive function than slurs. Participants’ prejudice toward the groups that were targets of derogatory label reduced their perceived offensiveness than in turn increased their social acceptability.

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Does the Name-Race Implicit Association Test Measure Racial Prejudice?

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000093 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 58 (4) ◽

pp. 271-277 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Don van Ravenzwaaij ◽

Han L. J. van der Maas ◽

Eric-Jan Wagenmakers

Keyword(s):

Diffusion Model ◽

Implicit Association Test ◽

Alternative Explanation ◽

Group Membership ◽

Racial Prejudice ◽

Decision Time ◽

Association Test ◽

Implicit Association ◽

Model Decomposition ◽

Test Measure

Research using the Implicit Association Test (IAT) has shown that names labeled as Caucasian elicit more positive associations than names labeled as non-Caucasian. One interpretation of this result is that the IAT measures latent racial prejudice. An alternative explanation is that the result is due to differences in in-group/out-group membership. In this study, we conducted three different IATs: one with same-race Dutch names versus racially charged Moroccan names; one with same-race Dutch names versus racially neutral Finnish names; and one with Moroccan names versus Finnish names. Results showed equivalent effects for the Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch-Finnish IATs, but no effect for the Finnish-Moroccan IAT. This suggests that the name-race IAT-effect is not due to racial prejudice. A diffusion model decomposition indicated that the IAT-effects were caused by changes in speed of information accumulation, response conservativeness, and non-decision time.

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