Racism and racial categorization.

Abstract

Social identity theory predicts that perceivers strongly identified with an in-group will maximize the distinction and maintain a clear boundary between their own and other groups by categorizing others' membership accurately. Two experiments tested the prediction that racially prejudiced individuals, who presumably identify highly with their racial in-group, are more motivated to make accurate racial categorizations than nonprejudiced individuals. Results indicated that prejudiced participants not only took longer to categorize race-ambiguous targets (Experiments 1 and 2), but also made more nonverbal vocalizations when presented with them (Experiment 1), suggesting response hesitation. The results support the hypothesis that, compared to nonprejudiced individuals, prejudiced individuals concern themselves with accurate identification of in-group and out-group members and use caution when making racial categorizations. The basic hypothesis, then, is that pressures to evaluate one's own group positively through in-group/out-group comparisons lead social groups to attempt to differentiate themselves from each other. Tajfel & Turner (1986, p. 16) Individuals claim membership in numerous social groups. Indeed, the particular groups to which one belongs influence selfperceptions, including self-evaluation. Individuals often identify and define themselves in terms of their group memberships; for example, one identifies oneself as a college professor, a woman, or a Catholic. Membership in positively valued social groups generally enhances self-esteem (Tajfel & Turner, 1979, 1986). Groups may be positively valued in either an absolute or a relative sense. Positive value in an absolute sense occurs when the group achieves something culturally valued or at least valued by group members. Members share in the in-group's positive value in terms of their perceptions of both themselves and others. Supporting research has demonstrated that individuals are more likely to identify themselves verbally and nonverbally as a group member after a positive group experience (e.g., identifying oneself as a New Yorker after a Yankees World Series victory; Cialdini et al., 1976). Groups may also take on positive value in a relative sense,

Sexual Orientation Beliefs

“…Martin and Parker (1995) showed that students who were intolerant of ambiguity were more likely to believe that sex and race differences were due to biological factors rather than socialization factors. Blascovich, Wyer, Swart, and Kibler (1997) observed that racially prejudiced persons take longer to categorize racially ambiguous faces, and may also be more motivated to categorize them. Given that sexual orientation is often not an easily identifiable trait, heterosexist persons might be particularly motivated to maintain a categorical distinction between gay and straight persons and to render gay, lesbian and bisexual persons identifiable so that they can be discriminated against.…”

Evidence for Hypodescent and Racial Hierarchy in the Categorization and Perception of Biracial Individuals

“…For example, Blascovich, Wyer, Swart, & Kibler (1997) showed that racism plays a role in the categorization of racially ambiguous individuals, with those high in racism more likely to take longer to categorize such individuals. Castano, Yzerbyt, Bourguignon, & Seron (2002) found a similar effect -they discovered that a strong ingroup identity leads to more time spent categorizing racially ambiguous faces as ingroup versus outgroup members, and led to fewer categorizations of targets into the ingroup.…”

On the Categorization of Admired and Disliked Exemplars of Admired and Disliked Racial Groups.

“…Specifically, White participants who reported feeling particularly positively about their racial group membership were more likely to categorize disliked White exemplars more slowly than admired White exemplars and admired Black exemplars more slowly than disliked Black exemplars. Recent research examining the categorization of "ambiguously raced" (e.g., multiracial) individuals has shown that both group identification and prejudice are associated with being concerned about "contaminating" the in-group through the accidental inclusion of out-group members (Blascovich, Wyer, Swart, & Kibler, 1997;Castano et al, 2002;Hugenberg & Bodenhausen, 2004). Similar to this work, the participants with higher levels of PCSE in Study 3 may have been concerned, at least in part, about maximizing the positive distinctiveness of their racial group, relative to individuals with lower levels of PCSE.…”