Date Thesis Awarded

5-2016

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Access Restricted On-Campus Only

Degree Name

Bachelors of Science (BS)

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Cheryl Dicter

Committee Members

Joanna Schug

Marcus Holmes

Abstract

Previous research on person perception has examined how stereotypes can affect people’s judgments of outgroup members. Research has also shown that ideology is related to prejudice and judgments about outgroups. In the current study, we examine how judgments of outgroup members are affected by a colorblind ideology versus a multicultural ideology. In Study 1, we had a national sample of participants recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk (n = 107) rate a fictional Black and White candidate on judgments related to political qualities and personal traits and complete explicit attitude measures. Results indicated that colorblind attitudes led to more negative political quality ratings of Black candidates. In Study 2, participants (n = 117) were randomly assigned to read a colorblind prime, a multicultural prime, or no prime (control condition). The diversity ideology manipulation in Study 2 had no effect on Black candidate ratings, but explicit attitudes toward blacks did have an effect. Promoting and endorsing political messages that minimize or undervalue the differences of outgroup members and holding unfavorable attitudes toward Blacks create more obstacles for Black candidates to overcome.

Recommended Citation

Williams, Karyne Nichelle, "The Effect of Diversity Ideology on the Perception of Political Candidates Varying By Race" (2016). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 961.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/961