1. Rachel Arnold, Curtis E. Phills, Jennifer Wolff, Amanda Williams
Capital University, University of Northern Florida, University of Northern Florida, Sheffield-Hallam University
Abstract
Research has shown Black women are considered less prototypical of
Blacks than Black men. This often results in Black women having their
experiences disregarded (Schud, Alt & Klauer, 2015). We hypothesized
that stereotypes about Black women should be more weakly related to
attitudes toward Blacks in general than stereotypes about Black men.
We conducted two studies, one with an American sample and one with a
British sample, to test this prediction. In both studies, we measured
attitudes by asking participants to indicate how warm or favorable they
felt toward target groups. Stereotyping was assessed via a stereotype-
listing task. Data from both the American and British studies supported
our hypotheses in that when both stereotypes about Black men and
women were simultaneously entered into a linear regression to predict
explicit prejudice, only explicit stereotyping of Black men was a
significant predictor of explicit prejudice
Background
• Research shows stereotypes about race include a gendered
component which causes most racial or ethnic groups to be
categorized as either more masculine or feminine (Carpinella et al,
2013; Schug, Alt, & Klauer, 2015; Thomas et al., 2014)
• In North American culture, Blacks tend to be seen as a more
masculine racial group (Goff, Thomas, & Jackson, 2008; Johnson,
Freeman, & Pauker, 2012)
• This manifests in research as Black women being seen as not
prototypically Black
• It has been suggested that this causes a degree of “invisibility”
for Black women compared to white individuals and Black men
Research Question
Are stereotypes and attitudes about Black people more weakly related
to Black women compared to Black men?
Hypothesis
Black women aren’t considered prototypical of Black people and therefore,
attitudes and stereotypes about Black women should be more weakly related
to attitudes and stereotypes of Black people than attitudes and stereotypes
about Black men.
Study One
Participants
• N = 68 (all non-Black)
• 4 male, 64 female, 0 trans
• Mage = 21.79, SDage = 3.78
Materials
• Stereotype Listing task (Essses & Zanna, 1990): participants were
instructed to type as many (at least one) stereotypes as possible about
a social group
• Stereotype Strength task: Participants indicated how strongly society
associated their generated stereotypes with the corresponding social
groups using a Likert scale ranging from 1 to 9
• Stereotype Valence task: participants rated how positive or negative
each stereotype was on a Likert scale from 1 to 7
• Evaluation Thermometers: participants were asked to indicate how
“warm or cold” they feel towards each of the social groups presented
during the stereotyping tasks
• Men and women were the first groups presented with Black men and
Black women being presented second
Procedure
• After logging onto experiment website and providing informed consent,
participants completed a series of tasks to assess stereotyping and
attitudes towards Blacks and whites
Results
• Regression: Explicit prejudice predicted by stereotyping against Black men
and Black women
• Black men: B = .24, p = .07
• Black women: B = .01, p = .93
Study Two
Participants
• N = 77 (all non-Black)
• 10 male, 51 female, 16 did not respond
• Mage = 19.36, SDage = 2.53
Materials
Participants completed the same Stereotype Listing, Stereotype
Strength and Stereotype Valence tasks used in study one with the
following differences
• Participants were asked about the stereotypes of the men and
women in each social group as well as the group as a whole
• Participants were asked to list stereotypes about whites from the UK
• Social groups were presented in random order
• For the Stereotype Strength questions, strength was assessed on a
scale from 1 to 7 rather than 1 to 9
• Participants were not required to list at least one stereotype for each
group
Results
Regression: Explicit prejudice predicted by stereotype against Black
men and Black women
• Black men: B = -.22, p = .09
• Black women: B = -.06, p = .63
Discussion
• Our hypothesis in regards to implicit prejudice was supported by the
American data but not the British data – explicit attitudes to Black men
were better predictors of implicit prejudice than explicit attitudes to
Black women
• Our hypothesis regarding explicit prejudice was supported by both the
American and the British data. Explicit stereotyping of Black men is a
better predictor of explicit prejudice than explicit stereotyping of Black
women.
The Invisibility of Stereotypes about Black Women
rarnold@capital.edu