Stereotypes

RECENT POSTS

March 29, 2012 | 12:15 PM | By

Racial Stereotyping: What’s Alcohol Got To Do With It?

Thomas Hawk / Flickr

Racial stereotyping others is more common among people who’ve been drinking alcohol, but just thinking about alcohol can have the same effect. That’s according to a new study by University of Missouri’s Bruce D. Bartholow, who found that people who saw alcoholic beverage ads were more likely to mistakenly see tools as handguns when associated with black male faces.

This is how the experiment went down: participants were shown a bunch of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drink ads. Then they saw pictures of black and white men’s faces for a split second, followed immediately by pictures of handguns and tools. Those who were exposed to the alcohol ads were more likely to exhibit racial bias, by mistakenly identifying the tools as handguns after seeing photos of black male faces. Participants who saw non-alcoholic drink ads didn’t make the same mistake as often. The quick speed of the experiment kept participants from over-thinking their responses.

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FILED UNDER: Public Safety, Racial Profiling, Stereotypes, University of Missouri
March 2, 2012 | 1:01 PM | By

How Racial Stereotypes Changes With Age

Streeter Lecka / Getty Images

People are more charitable toward young black children than older black children, according to a new study published in the journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science. Researchers examined data from a large, online charity that solicits donations for school projects. Proposals that included photos of older black children — sixth through 12th graders — didn’t get as many donations than proposals with photos of younger black children. For white children, an opposite pattern exists.

“What we show is as you grow toward adulthood, you come to represent your group in a much stronger fashion. People perceive you more in line with your group stereotypes.” says Deborah Small, one of the study’s authors. “Young children, we don’t penalize them by their [group's] stereotypes. Their ‘groupness’ is not fully formed yet.”

For African Americans, that means teenagers are more likely to be associated with stereotypes of being lazy, thus less deserving of sympathy and charity than young black children or white children, the study’s authors note.

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FILED UNDER: Children, Race, Sociology, Stereotypes
January 19, 2012 | 12:07 PM | By

[Stuff] Who Says? (Video)

The [Stuff] people say meme has come to D.C., courtesy of this SocialStudies DC video (which you can watch at the bottom of this post). Some choice lines include, “Wait, where are you from, originally?” and “It’s only $1,400 a month for their converted sunroom, so, not bad.”

But who’s really saying this stuff? Is it really accurate to call it “[Stuff] D.C. says?”

A couple of people, including @clintonyates, tweeted the video is really things that white people in D.C. say.

@ Funny, but very "white DC" tho. You can't have a DC video without the words "bamma" and "uhrea" (DC pronounciation of area)
January 19, 2012 11:42 am via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite
@ricktagious
Ricky Ribeiro

A few folks pointed out that race and class don’t always intersect:

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FILED UNDER: Around the City, SocialStudies DC, Stereotypes
August 17, 2011 | 1:54 PM | By

D.C. Mapped By Stereotypes

Do you live amongst go-go, jumbo slice, commie dog walkers or in Ethiopia? Check your location against the DC Stereotype Map, produced by SocialStudiesDC, which attached stereotypes to neighborhoods in a tongue-in-cheek graphic:

Courtesy of SocialStudiesDC

D.C., by stereotypes.

Do you take issue with any of the categorizations? Let us know in the comments.

FILED UNDER: Media, Neighborhoods, SocialStudiesDC, Stereotypes