Are members of low status groups perceived as bad, or badly off? Egalitarian negative associations and automatic prejudice

Eric Luis Uhlmann, Victoria L. Brescoll, Elizabeth Levy Paluck

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

45 Scopus citations

Abstract

Three studies explored the hypothesis that implicit measures of prejudice can tap negative, yet egalitarian associations. In Study 1, automatically associating African Americans with oppression predicted greater automatic prejudice. In Studies 2 and 3, classically conditioning associations between the novel group Noffians and words like oppressed, maltreated, and victimized led to greater automatic prejudice against Noffians. Results suggest that White Americans' negative automatic associations with African Americans may partly result from associating members of low status groups with unfair circumstances. Because automatic associations predict prejudiced behaviors, the burden of proof is on those wishing to argue that egalitarian negative associations complicate the assessment of automatic attitudes rather than contribute to prejudiced responses. Discussion focuses on the implications of egalitarian negative associations for the theory and measurement of automatic prejudice.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)491-499
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume42
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2006
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Social Psychology
  • Sociology and Political Science

Keywords

  • Automatic attitudes
  • Implicit attitudes
  • Implicit measures
  • Prejudice

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