PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Educated black men remembered as 'whiter'

2014-01-14
(Press-News.org) Contact information: Camille Gamboa
camille.gamboa@sagepub.com
805-410-7441
SAGE Publications
Educated black men remembered as 'whiter'

Los Angeles, CA (January 14, 2014) A new study out today in SAGE Open finds that instead of breaking stereotypes, intellectually successful Black individuals may be susceptible to being remembered as "Whiter" and therefore 'exceptions to their race,' perpetuating cultural beliefs about race and intelligence. This new study shows that a Black man who is associated with being educated is remembered as being lighter in skin tone than he actually is, a phenomenon the study authors refer to as "skin tone memory bias."

"When a Black stereotypic expectancy is violated (herein, encountering an educated Black male), this culturally incompatible information is resolved by distorting this person's skin tone to be lighter in memory and therefore to be perceived as "Whiter," the main researcher, Avi Ben-Zeev, stated.

Researchers Avi Ben-Zeev, Tara Dennehy, Robin Goodrich, Branden Kolarik, and Mark Geisler conducted a two-part experiment with a total of 160 university students. In the first experiment, participants were briefly exposed to one of two words subliminally: "ignorant" or "educated," followed immediately by a photograph of a Black man's face. Later, participants were shown seven photos that depicted the same face – the original as well as three with darker skin tones and three with lighter skin tones. They were asked to determine which of these seven photographs was identical to the one that they had originally seen.

The researchers found that participants who were primed subliminally with the word "educated" demonstrated significantly more memory errors attached to lighter skin tones (identifying even the lightest photo as being identical to the original) than those primed subliminally with the word "ignorant." This skin tone memory bias was replicated in experiment two.

"Uncovering a skin tone memory bias, such that an educated Black man becomes lighter in the mind's eye, has grave implications," Avi Ben-Zeev stated. "We already know from past researchers about the disconcerting tendency to harbor more negative attitudes about people with darker complexions (e.g., the darker a Black male is, the more aggressive he is perceived to be). A skin tone memory bias highlights how memory protects this 'darker is more negative' belief by distorting counter-stereotypic Black individuals' skin tone to appear lighter and perhaps to be perceived as less threatening."



INFORMATION:

Find out more by reading the article, "When an 'Educated' Black Man Becomes Lighter in the Mind's Eye: Evidence for a Skin Tone Memory Bias." For an embargoed copy, email camille.gamboa@sagepub.com.

SAGE Open is an award-winning, peer-reviewed, "Gold" open access journal from SAGE that publishes original research and review articles in an interactive, open access format. Articles may span the full spectrum of the social and behavioral sciences and the humanities. http://sgo.sagepub.com/

SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. http://www.sagepublications.com



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Social experience drives empathetic, pro-social behavior in rats

2014-01-14
Social experience drives empathetic, pro-social behavior in rats Rats will help a stranger in distress only if they have had prior social experience with the type of the unfamiliar individual ...

Bald reef gets new growth with seaweed transplant

2014-01-14
Bald reef gets new growth with seaweed transplant SYDNEY: Marine ecologists in Sydney have successfully restored a once thriving seaweed species, which vanished along a stretch of the city's coastline during the 1970s and 80s during high levels of ...

Mitochondrial genes matter!

2014-01-14
Mitochondrial genes matter! Contrary to common belief, mitochondrial genes seem to matter for how well individuals survive and reproduce. These new results are reported by researchers at Uppsala University, Sweden, who studied the genes of a common beetle ...

Patients with multiple sclerosis in Taiwan may be at increased risk of developing cancer

2014-01-14
Patients with multiple sclerosis in Taiwan may be at increased risk of developing cancer Individuals with multiple sclerosis may have an increased risk of developing any type of cancer, with an especially high risk of developing breast cancer. That is the conclusion of a ...

New research on sauropod gigantism summarized in publicly available collection

2014-01-14
New research on sauropod gigantism summarized in publicly available collection Giants of Earth's history still pose a wealth of riddles / Publication in PLOS ONE Sauropods, the largest land animals in Earth's history, are still ...

Molecular nano-spies to make light work of disease detection

2014-01-14
Molecular nano-spies to make light work of disease detection A world of cloak-and-dagger pharmaceuticals has come a step closer with the development of stealth compounds programmed to spring into action when they receive the ...

Do cultural differences determine outcome of our activities?

2014-01-14
Do cultural differences determine outcome of our activities? Not necessarily, say researchers Jerusalem, January 14, 2014 -- A generally held assumption in various academic disciplines is that the way people perform various everyday activities – ...

Cell division discovery could offer fresh insight into cancer

2014-01-14
Cell division discovery could offer fresh insight into cancer New findings on how the cells in our bodies are able to renew themselves could aid our understanding of health disorders, including cancer. Scientists have explained a key part of the process ...

Physical reason for chromosome shape discovered

2014-01-14
Physical reason for chromosome shape discovered This work gives a solution to a fundamental question in structural biology: Why do metaphase chromosomes have their characteristic elongated cylindrical shape? The proposed solution is consistent ...

What makes superalloys super -- hierarchical microstructure of a superalloy

2014-01-14
What makes superalloys super -- hierarchical microstructure of a superalloy Researchers have observed for the first time in detail how a hierarchical microstructure develops during heat treatment of a superalloy This ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Fig trees convert atmospheric CO2 to stone

Intra-arterial tenecteplase for acute stroke after successful endovascular therapy

Study reveals beneficial microbes that can sustain yields in unfertilized fields

Robotic probe quickly measures key properties of new materials

Climate change cuts milk production, even when farmers cool their cows

Frozen, but not sealed: Arctic Ocean remained open to life during ice ages

Some like it cold: Cryorhodopsins

Demystifying gut bacteria with AI

Human wellbeing on a finite planet towards 2100: new study shows humanity at a crossroads

Unlocking the hidden biodiversity of Europe’s villages

Planned hydrogen refuelling stations may lead to millions of euros in yearly losses

Planned C-sections increase the risk of certain childhood cancers

Adults who have survived childhood cancer are at increased risk of severe COVID-19

Drones reveal extreme coral mortality after bleaching

New genetic finding uncovers hidden cause of arsenic resistance in acute promyelocytic leukemia

Native habitats hold the key to the much-loved smashed avocado’s future

Using lightning to make ammonia out of thin air

Machine learning potential-driven insights into pH-dependent CO₂ reduction

Physician associates provide safe care for diagnosed patients when directly supervised by a doctor

How game-play with robots can bring out their human side

Asthma: patient expectations influence the course of the disease

UNM physician tests drug that causes nerve tissue to emit light, enabling faster, safer surgery

New study identifies EMP1 as a key driver of pancreatic cancer progression and poor prognosis

XPR1 identified as a key regulator of ovarian cancer growth through autophagy and immune evasion

Flexible, eco-friendly electronic plastic for wearable tech, sensors

Can the Large Hadron Collider snap string theory?

Stuckeman professor’s new book explores ‘socially sustainable’ architecture

Synthetic DNA nanoparticles for gene therapy

New model to find treatments for an aggressive blood cancer

Special issue of Journal of Intensive Medicine analyzes non-invasive respiratory support

[Press-News.org] Educated black men remembered as 'whiter'