This study examined perceptions among non-racists, aversive racists, and blatant racists of differentially-performing African-American employees and the effects of the evaluation manipulation on future hiring decisions of an African-American applicant. Using a procedure for categorizing participants into one of these three racism groups, which utilized both implicit and explicit measures of racism, an internet-based sample (n = 221) rated the job performance of a European- or African-American incumbent law associate in a positive or mediocre performance condition and then provided performance ratings of the incumbent associate. Participants also evaluated a moderately-qualified African-American's hireability. Racism group, incumbent performance, and incumbent race were hypothesized to interact to differentially affect mediocre-performing African-American incumbent performance ratings and African-American applicant hireability and qualification ratings. The hypothesized three-way interactions were not significant. However, a significant two-way interaction of incumbent race X incumbent performance was found for incumbent performance ratings, F(1, 191) = 6.06, p = .015, ηp2 = .031, and African-American applicant hireability, F(1, 191) = 7.31, p = .007, ηp2 = .037. Hierarchical regression analyses probing the interactions showed that the positive-performing African-American incumbent's performance was rated significantly higher than the positive-performing European-American's performance, simple slope = .13, SE = .10, t = 2.10, p = .037. Participants also rated an African-American job applicant's hireability lower after viewing a mediocre-performing African-American incumbent, as compared to a mediocre-performing European-American incumbent, simple slope = -.18, SE = .14, t = -2.36, p = .019. These findings are consistent with the theoretical tenets of aversive racism. This study also explored the political ideologies of non-racists, aversive racists, and blatant racists. Using chi-square analysis, the political ideologies (conservative or liberal) of the three racist groups were significantly different, χ2 (2) = 43.03, p < .001. The majority of non-racists and aversive racists identified as liberal, whereas the majority of blatant racists identified as conservative. Although several key hypotheses were not supported, this study did provide further distinctions between aversive racists, blatant racists, and non-racists. Although differences were not found between the racism groups, the pattern of findings is suggestive of aversive racism. Furthermore, the finding that aversive racists were predominantly liberal supported previous findings concerning aversive racists' political ideologies.

abstract: Juror impartiality is necessary for a fair and just legal system, but is true juror impartiality realistic? The current study investigated the role of implicit and explicit social-cognitive biases in jurors’ conceptualizations of insanity, and the influence of those biases in juror verdict decisions. It was hypothesized that by analyzing the role of implicit and explicit biases in insanity defense cases, jurors’ attitudes towards those with mental illnesses and attitudes towards the insanity defense would influence jurors’ final verdict decisions. Two hundred and two participants completed an online survey which included a trial vignette incorporating an insanity defense (adapted from Maeder et al., 2016), the Insanity Defense Attitude Scale (Skeem, Louden, & Evans, 2004), Community Attitudes Towards the Mentally Ill Scale (Taylor & Dear, 1981), and an Implicit Association Test (Greenwald et al., 1998). While implicit associations concerning mental illness and dangerousness were significantly related to mock jurors’ verdicts, they no longer were when explicit insanity defense attitudes were added to a more complex model including all measured attitudes and biases. Insanity defense attitudes were significantly related to jurors’ verdicts over and above attitudes about the mentally ill and implicit biases concerning the mentally ill. The potentially biasing impact of jurors’ insanity defense attitudes and the impact of implicit associations about the mentally ill in legal judgments are discussed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2018

Thesis advisor: Paula Mathieu / "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought” (Orwell). America's English language is a major contributing factor that perpetuates and orients us toward racial inequality. If American culture is racist, it is only logical that the language our culture uses to communicate would also be racist. This thesis will investigate how language in the media shapes and exacerbates racial bias, contributing to the criminalization of the Black community. The American English language, which includes all forms of written and spoken communication, is how America has shaped its identity (Smalls et al., 152). Language is how we communicate and express ourselves; it is the indispensable transmitter, shaping and creating ideas, social customs, religions, and culture. While many factors contribute to the ongoing struggle of racial inequality in America, my thesis will focus on the history and language of America’s racial biases toward Black people, their impact on societal attitudes, and how the media is using such language to criminalize the Black community. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: English.

Excerpt: The study by Terbeck et al. (2012) that was published in Psychopharmacology, Online First concluded that propranolol reduces implicit negative racial bias. However, this conclusion is not supported by the study because the implicit association test (IAT) (Greenwald et al. 2009) has not been sufficiently validated and because the claim for clinical treatment due to amygdala suppression is unsupported.

Social class remains a largely unexplored domain of psychological research. While steps have been taken to develop interventions for racism and sexism, no such model exists in regard to class bias. College is one particular context in which it is likely for lower-income students to experience heightened class identity saliency and encounter class-related friction. Prior literature has shown that classism is associated with negative psychosocial and academic outcomes for college students. The proposed intervention is designed to reduce class bias on elite college campuses, where a majority of students come from privileged backgrounds and class tensions are often neglected. Participants will enroll in a for-credit course that will shed light on issues of classism and encourage students to think critically about class-related issues. Effectiveness of the course will be assessed in two ways. Reduction in class bias will be measured using an implicit measure of social class bias. Participants will also complete a self-report measure of awareness of social class issues. Participation in the course is expected to result in decreased class bias and greater awareness of social class issues. Furthermore, it is predicted that awareness of social class issues will mediate the relationship between course participation and reduced class bias. Research findings will have valuable implications for the success and wellbeing of students affected by classism. The proposed study has the potential to bridge class divides within college communities and promote educational equity.

Previous research shows that social biases, such as pro-White racial bias, can influence a person's decisions and behaviors (Correll et al. 2007; Mekawi & Bresin, 2015). Studies also suggest that social biases may influence basic functions like visual perception (Cesario & Navarrete, 2014); however, few studies have examined the relationship between visual perceptions and threat (Cesario, Placks, Hagiwara, Navarrete, & Higgins, 2010; Todd, Thiem, & Neel, 2016). The current research aims to investigate whether implicit pro-White preference can influence basic functions like visual perception. A secondary aim of this study is to examine the role of threat in this relationship. To test, White male and female participants (N= 29) were asked to complete distance estimates to either a Black or White male experimenter. It was hypothesized that participants would judge the distance to the Black confederate as closer compared to those who estimate the distance to a White confederate. The results marginally supported the idea that participants’ distance judgements were influenced by the experimenter’s race, such that the Black experimenter was viewed as closer when compared to the White experimenter. However, results showed that implicit racial attitudes did not influence distance estimations, but explicit bias did. Fully powered follow-up studies will be conducted to further examine these hypotheses and investigate whether a type one error was present.

Highly publicized media events involving African American men and the use of deadly force by police officers have occurred between 2013 and 2014. These events have emphasized the need to examine the influence of implicit bias training on police officers' decision-making processes. During the past two decades, Community Oriented Policing Services has invested several billion dollars in training programs designed to eliminate racial bias within the law enforcement community. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how implicit-bias training influences the decision-making processes of police officers. More specifically, this study examined the perceptions of police officers regarding the practical value of implicit-bias training and how the training influences their cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. An online questionnaire containing open-ended questions was administered to 32 sworn, full-time police officers who interact daily with members of diverse communities. The data were coded using evaluation coding, magnitude coding, and descriptive coding. This form of coding assisted in identifying attitudes and stereotypes as well as the impact of implicit bias training police officers' cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Participants reported that implicit bias training made them better prepared to manage their biases while interacting with diverse communities. The findings of this study will provide police agencies and law enforcement training facilitators with the tools they need to improve future training outcomes. Successfully training police officers on how to manage implicit bias during the decision-making process will reduce the potential for stereotyping.

Cheri Huber is a contemporary American Zen Buddhist interested in the relation between self-hate and suffering. Her style is aphoristic, loosely organized, and in her own words, "a swirling mass of notions." My paper organizes her scattered ideas on suffering and self-hate into a coherent system. Her views on self-hate and suffering sometimes make us uncomfortable. In one of her early works, she points out that, after presenting her thoughts to people, "they tend to not want to talk to us anymore." After explaining her views on self-hate and suffering, I will explain why we occasionally react with uneasiness to her observations. That explanation is based on recent research on hidden and implicit bias.

This dissertation in practice was a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of Model School Policy 506, Student Discipline (MSBA, 2019), as it relates to the school-to-prison pipeline across the nation as well as in Minnesota. Model Policy 506, co-authored by the Minnesota School Board Association and the Minnesota Association of School Administrators, is offered to school districts that subscribe to MSBA’s policy services. The homogeneity in school discipline policy across Minnesota provided an opportunity for this study. The purpose of this CDA was two-fold: to assess the discourses instantiated in Model School Policy 506, and to determine, through the figured world tool of inquiry, what the seven building tasks are accomplishing in Model Policy 506 for the reader to assume as social truth regarding student behavior and schooling. Data was collected through an iterative process and examined for themes. The CDA included multiple reviews of Model Policy 506 through the figured world tool of inquiry (Gee 2014), discerning and charting of the activities of the seven building tasks (Gee, 2014), assessing text complexity of policy discourse through a Lexile review, and capturing word repetition via computerized software as well as noting infrequent use of terms or absence of ideas. Major findings include that Model Policy 506, Student Discipline, acted to reinscribe teacher implicit bias, and that policy language was invested and embedded in racial structures. A Call to Action was written to be shared with the executive directors of the Minnesota School Board Association and the Minnesota Association of School administrators as an actionable response to the complex issue of social justice in discipline policy.

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