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Detecting racial identification: The role of phenotypic prototypicality

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Abstract

Little is known about what cues are used to infer the racial identification of others and whether or not identification inferences are accurate. Three studies provide evidence that phenotypic prototypicality (PP), the degree to which an individual looks like a prototypical member of his or her racial group, shapes inferences about racial identification. Participants assumed that high PP Blacks were more racially identified than low PP Blacks. In addition to serving as an identification cue for observers, PP was related to self-perceptions, as Blacks and Latinos who were higher in PP were in fact more identified with their racial group than minorities who were lower in PP. Furthermore, unacquainted judges accurately detected Black and Latino targets' racial identification based on PP. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for intergroup relationships.

Introduction

Imagine being asked to form an impression of a stranger based on nothing more than that person's physical image. Chances are, you would feel confident about inferring some of the person's attributes. For example, a meticulously dressed individual might be perceived as being attentive to detail. On the other hand, it may be difficult to imagine being able to “see” more complex aspects of an individual's self-concept, such as his or her psychological connection to social groups. In this investigation, we examine whether others can perceive ethnic minorities' racial identification (the importance of an individual's racial or ethnic group to his or her self-image [see Luhtanen and Crocker, 1992, McCoy and Major, 2003, Turner et al., 1987]). We also examine how racial identification inferences are made.

Understanding how people make inferences about minorities' level of racial identification is important because these inferences affect how minorities are evaluated and treated (Dovidio et al., 2009, Kaiser and Pratt-Hyatt, 2009, Sanchez and Bonam, 2009). Whites express more negative attitudes and behavioral intentions towards racial minorities that they perceive as strongly racially identified than they do towards those perceived as weakly identified (Kaiser & Pratt-Hyatt, 2009). Likewise, Whites express less prosocial behavior towards Blacks who emphasize their minority group membership (Dovidio et al., 2009).

Although inferences about racial identification affect Whites' attitudes toward racial minorities, no empirical work to date examines how Whites determine another individuals' racial identification. In previous research (e.g., Dovidio et al., 2009, Kaiser and Pratt-Hyatt, 2009), participants were explicitly told how targets identified. It is not often that individuals overtly state their racial identification level. This leaves unanswered the question of whether identification can be accurately inferred and what factors shape inferences about identification. Understanding how identity inferences are made will provide insight into the experiences of racial minorities who vary in their level of identification.

How might perceivers determine someone's racial identification level? Physical appearance is a likely candidate for use in making inferences about identification. Individuals readily use physical appearance, especially facial appearance, to judge others (Eagly et al., 1991, Langlois et al., 2000). For example, appearance-based first impressions are related to perceptions of social and intellectual competence (Eagly et al., 1991), leadership ability (Rule & Ambady, 2008), and personality (Zebrowitz & Collins, 1997).

Phenotypic prototypicality (PP), the degree to which an individual's physical appearance is perceived to be prototypical of his/her group, is an aspect of appearance that may be particularly relevant to understanding inferences about minorities' racial identification. For Blacks, perceptions of PP may be based upon skin tone (Hall, 1998, Maddox and Gray, 2002, Maddox, 2004) or other features such as the broadness of lips and nose or hair texture (Blair, Judd, Sadler & Jenkins, 2002).

Phenotypic prototypicality has long played a role in US race relations and person perception. In the antebellum south, lighter-skinned Black slaves were given more social privileges and better working conditions than darker-skinned Black slaves (Brown, Ward, Lightbourn & Jackson, 1999). More recently, aspects of PP, such as skin tone, have been demonstrated to affect the degree to which Blacks are stereotyped (Maddox & Gray, 2002) and the automatic evaluations made about both Blacks and Latinos (Livingston and Brewer, 2002, Uhlmann et al., 2002). PP also affects experiences with prejudice and discrimination, such that high PP Blacks bear the brunt of negative outcomes (Blair, Judd, & Chapleau, 2004; Klonoff & Landrine, 2000).

Perceivers may use PP to infer the degree to which minorities identify with their racial group because PP is a basis for categorization and stereotyping (Maddox, 2004, Maddox and Gray, 2002). For example, high PP Blacks are described using more stereotypic traits and are judged as more similar to prototypical representations of Blacks than low PP Blacks (Maddox & Gray, 2002). Although examinations of similarity have typically focused on the ascription of stereotyped traits to minorities who are higher in PP, PP may also serve as a cue to an individuals' psychological congruity with a category. High PP minorities may be judged as more psychologically identified with their racial group than low PP minorities.

As perceivers may use PP to infer racial identification, it is important to understand whether PP is related to minorities' actual racial identification. If minorities higher in PP are more identified with their racial or ethnic group, it indicates that perceivers' assumptions about the relationship between PP and identification are warranted.

Previous research suggests that PP may influence the way in which individuals racially identify. Blacks who were rated by interviewers as “very light” report being less identified with their racial group than individuals rated as “very dark,” “dark,” or “medium brown” (Brown et al., 1999). However, because the interviewers who assessed skin tone were not blind to participants' identification level, it is possible that knowledge of identification shaped their perceptions of PP (Eberhardt, Dasgupta & Banaszynski, 2003). In addition, identification was assessed by asking participants whether being Black or being American was more important to their sense of self. This mutually exclusive measure of identification is inconsistent with the idea that individuals can simultaneously hold multiple social identities (e.g., Settles, 2006, Brewer and Gardner, 1996). It is thus important to test whether PP is predictive of self-reported racial identification.

In addition to examining the ways in which appearance and identification are connected both perceptually and in reality, it is also important to determine whether or not racial identification can be accurately perceived. Accurate identification inferences would make it possible for Whites to use these inferences in their interactions with minorities, which, in turn, could provide insight into why strongly identified minorities report more experiences with discrimination than weakly identified minorities. For example, if Whites can accurately gauge racial identification, they may preferentially direct their discrimination toward strongly identified minorities (Kaiser & Pratt-Hyatt, 2009).

We expect that Whites will accurately infer the racial identification of racial minorities even in the absence of behavioral cues. We define accuracy as the correspondence between a judgment and a criterion (Funder, D. C, 1987, Gray, 2008, Kruglanski, 1989). In this case, the judgment consists of identification inferences made by a racial outgroup member, and the criterion is minorities' self-reported racial identification.

Judgments of identification are likely to be accurate for a number of reasons. First, outgroup members may use observations about the relationship between PP and identification in the real world to make judgments about minorities' identification. For example, they may notice that high PP Blacks are more likely to be members of predominantly Black organizations than low PP Blacks. Second, “thin slice” research reveals that zero-acquaintance judges form accurate impressions of targets on wide range of traits (see Ambady & Rosenthal, 1992 for a review).

Experiments 1–3 examine the extent to which minorities' PP is related to observers' judgments of racial identification. Experiment 3 additionally examines whether the relationship between PP and identification is based in reality by investigating whether Blacks and Latinos who are higher in PP are in fact more racially identified. This study also examines whether observers can accurately determine minorities' level of racial identification.

Section snippets

Experiment 1

Experiment 1 tests the hypothesis that high PP Blacks will be perceived as more highly identified with their racial group than low PP Blacks.

Experiment 2

Experiment 2 served as a replication of experiment 1 and again examines whether high PP Blacks were perceived as more racially identified than low PP Blacks.

Experiment 3

Does it make sense for social perceivers to assume that there is a relationship between appearance and racial identification? In other words, is it possible that Blacks who have higher PP actually identify more strongly with their racial group than their low PP counterparts? If so, this indicates that PP may be a crude, but nonetheless ecologically valid cue to racial identification. Experiment 3 examines this question by testing the relationship between PP and self-reported racial

General discussion

Recent research reveals that inferences about racial identification have important consequences for how minorities are treated (Dovidio et al., 2009, Kaiser and Pratt-Hyatt, 2009). Inspired by this research, the present investigation sought to understand whether and how racial identification is perceived. Specifically, we examined whether the degree to which racial minorities look like prototypical members of their racial group (PP) causes observers to draw inferences about minorities' racial

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    This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Ford Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship to Clara L. Wilkins, grants from the National Science Foundation (BCS-0749159) and the University of Washington Royalty Research Fund to Cheryl R. Kaiser, and a Mary Gates Research Fellowship to Heather Rieck. We thank the research assistants in the Social Identification Laboratory for their assistance with data collection. We also thank members of the Kaiser/Cheryan lab, Sapna Cheryan and Collette Eccleston for their thoughtful feedback on drafts of this manuscript.

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