A Meta-Analysis of the “Erasing Race” Effect in the United States and Some Theoretical Considerations

Abstract

The "erasing race" effect is the reduction of the salience of "race" as an alliance cue when recalling coalition membership, once more accurate information about coalition structure is presented. We conducted a random-effects model meta-analysis of this effect using five United States studies (containing nine independent effect sizes). The effect was found (ρ = 0.137, K = 9, 95% CI = 0.085 to 0.188). However, no decline effect or moderation effects were found (a "decline effect" in this context would be a decrease in the effect size over time). Furthermore, we found little evidence of publication bias. Synthetically correcting the effect size for bias stemming from the use of an older method for calculating error base rates reduced the magnitude of the effect, but the it remained significant. Taken together, these findings indicate that the "erasing race" effect generalizes quite well across experimental contexts and would, therefore, appear to be quite robust. We reinterpret the theoretical basis for these effects in line with Brunswikian evolutionary-developmental theory and present a series of predictions to guide future research in this area.

Social Adversity Reduces Polygenic Score Expressivity for General Cognitive Ability, but Not Height

“…This means that cognitively impairing forms of discrimination are likely associated with the purely socially constructed aspects of SIRE (those that are wholly independent of heritable ancestry-related phenotypes such as skin reflectance or color). It has been found that 'race' as a concept may, to a substantial degree, be a byproduct of social coalitional categorization, the significance of which can be 'erased' once alternative social cues are presented that more accurately map onto relevant coalitional structure (Kurzban et al, 2001; for a meta-analysis of 'erasing race' effects, see Woodley of Menie et al, 2020); thus, there is likely much about 'race' and related phenomena that exists purely in the psychological (and also sociological) realm and that is wholly divorced from outward markers of biogeographic ancestry. Elucidating the processes that go into the construction and persistence of such 'social forces' goes well beyond the current study.…”

Closing a conceptual gap in race perception research: A functional integration of the other-race face recognition and “who said what?” paradigms.

“…Relevant studies were identified by searching APA PsycInfo, PubPSYCH, PSYNDEX, and Google Scholar with the following search terms: (categori* OR group* OR stereotyp*) AND (race OR ethnic* OR [black AND white]) AND (“memory confusion” OR “statement confusion” OR “who said what” OR “who-said-what” OR “error difference” OR “within category”). Additionally, the reference lists of two published “Who said what?” meta-analyses (Pietraszewski, 2018; Woodley Of Menie et al, 2020) were searched manually for relevant literature. Email requests were sent to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, European Association of Social Psychology, and German Psychological Society mailing lists, and the labs of Juliane Degner in Hamburg and K. C. Klauer in Freiburg were contacted personally.…”

“…Additionally, the reference lists of two published "Who said what?" meta-analyses (Pietraszewski, 2018;Woodley Of Menie et al, 2020) were searched manually for relevant literature. Email requests were sent to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, European Association of Social Psychology, and German Psychological Society mailing lists, and the labs of Juliane Degner in Hamburg and K. C. Klauer in Freiburg were contacted personally.…”

Closing a conceptual gap in race perception research: A functional integration of the other-race face recognition and “Who said what?” paradigms

“…Additionally, the reference lists of two published "Who said what?" metaanalyses (Pietraszewski, 2018;Woodley Of Menie et al, 2020) were searched manually for relevant literature. Email requests were sent to the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), European Association of Social Psychology (EASP), and German Psychological Society (DGPs) mailing lists, and the labs of Juliane Degner in Hamburg and K. C. Klauer in Freiburg were contacted personally.…”