Memories of racial stereotypes: Influences of racial identity and colorblindness
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the influence of racial identity awareness and color-blind racial attitude on individual differences in remembering racial and racial based gender stereotypes among White and non-White participants, and to link them to color-blind racial attitude and racial identity awareness to implicit attitudes by looking at memories of racial stereotypes towards Asian American and White targets. 533 undergraduate students read an online vignette embedded with racial stereotypes, whose target character was either male or female, and identified as Asian, White, or not identified by race. Measurements on racial identity, colorblindness attitude, personality attribution and racial attitudes questionnaires were competed following the vignette. Subsequently, memory for race-related information was measured by memory sensitivity and response bias on a memory recognition task. Results of the study found that colorblindess attitude and acceptance of out-group member influenced racial stereotype accuracy in memory recall as well as significant predictors of racial attitudes. Specifically, low colorblindness attitude was associated with better memory recall on Asian American stereotypes (F(1,439) = 4.68, p = .001) while higher out-group orientation was associated with better accuracy on both Asian American and White stereotypes status (F(1,455) = 5. 92, p < .001). Racial attitudes can be accounted for by ethnic identity (9.8% of the variance) and colorblind racial attitudes (5.1%). The findings shed light on improving inter-racial relationships in that acceptance and understanding are factors that influence implicit attitudes towards Asian-Americans.^
Subject Area
Asian American Studies|Psychology, Social|Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies
Recommended Citation
Alice Wen-jui Cheng,
"Memories of racial stereotypes: Influences of racial identity and colorblindness"
(2011).
Dissertations and Master's Theses (Campus Access).
Paper AAI3488410.
http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dissertations/AAI3488410