Post-racial or prejudiced? An examination of current race relations through attitudes toward Black-White interracial couples

I investigated how individuals react to romantic interracial couples by asking participants recruited on Mechanical Turk to reveal their warmth toward pairs in two studies. In Study 1, participants indicated their warmth toward a specific pictured interracial couple. In Study 2, participants reported how they generally felt toward monoracial and interracial couples: an all-Black pair, all-White pair, Black male-White female couple, and a White male-Black female couple. I assessed four hypotheses. According to the exposure hypothesis, Black male-White female couples should be evaluated most positively due to their high intermarriage rate (Fryer, 2007) and the mere exposure effect (Zajonc, 2001). The competition hypothesis suggests Black women will indicate the lowest warmth toward Black male-White female couples due to perceptions that dateable Black men are a scare resource. The dominance hypothesis predicts White men will report the least warmth toward Black male-White female interracial couples due to the threat this couple posses to their supremacy (Ferber, 1998). Lastly, the self-presentation hypothesis predicts that White women are particularly concerned about appearing biased and thus, will evaluate all Black-White interracial couples especially highly. When participants thought about romantic couples in general, results supported both the competition and dominance hypotheses. When participants thought about a specific pair and about couples in general, results supported the self-presentation hypothesis. These findings demonstrate that certain relationships between Blacks and Whites are especially troubling to particular demographics and suggest potential roots of specific prejudices.

    Item Description
    Name(s)
    Thesis advisor: Wilkins, Clara
    Date
    April 15, 2015
    Extent
    48 pages
    Language
    eng
    Genre
    Physical Form
    electronic
    Discipline
    Rights and Use
    In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted
    Restrictions on Use

    Access limited to Wesleyan Community only. Please contact wesscholar@wesleyan.edu for more information.

    Digital Collection
    PID
    ir:2030