Current Events > White Liberals Present Themselves as Less Competent in Interactions w/ Africans

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https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/white-liberals-present-themselves-as-less-competent-in-interactions-with-african-americans

A new study suggests that white Americans who hold liberal socio-political views use language that makes them appear less competent in an effort to get along with racial minorities.

Racial bias can put people of color at a disadvantage when interviewing for a job, buying a house, or interacting with the police. New research suggests that bias may also shape daily interactions between racial minorities and white people, even those whites who tend to be less biased.

According to new research by Cydney Dupree, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale SOM, white liberals tend to downplay their own verbal competence in exchanges with racial minorities, compared to how other white Americans act in such exchanges. The study is scheduled for publication in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

While many previous studies have examined how people who hold racial bias behave in multi-racial settings, few have studied how whites who are more well-intentioned interact with people of other races. Theres less work that explores how well-intentioned whites try to get along with racial minorities, Dupree says. We wanted to know their strategies for increasing connections between members of different social groupsand how effective these strategies are.

Dupree and her co-author, Susan Fiske of Princeton University, began by analyzing the words used in campaign speeches delivered by Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to different audiences over the years. They scanned 74 speeches delivered by white candidates over a 25-year period. Approximately half were addressed to mostly-minority audiencesat a Hispanic small business roundtable discussion or a black church, for example. They then paired each speech delivered to a mostly-minority audience with a comparable speech delivered at a mostly-white audienceat a mostly-white church or university, for example. The researchers analyzed the text of these speeches for two measures: words related to competence (that is, words about ability or status, such as assertive or competitive) and words related to warmth (that is, words about friendliness, such as supportive and compassionate).

Warmth, related to intentions towards others, and competence, related to the ability to carry out those intentions, are two fundamental dimensions of how we see others and portray ourselves in social interactions. Stereotypical portrayals of black Americans generally show them as being less competent than their white counterparts, but not necessarily less friendly or warm, Dupree explains.

The team found that Democratic candidates used fewer competence-related words in speeches delivered to mostly minority audiences than they did in speeches delivered to mostly white audiences. The difference wasnt statistically significant in speeches by Republican candidates, though it was harder to find speeches from Republicans delivered to minority audiences, Dupree notes. There was no difference in Democrats or Republicans usage of words related to warmth. It was really surprising to see that for nearly three decades, Democratic presidential candidates have been engaging in this predicted behavior.

With this preliminary evidence in hand, the researchers set out to further test their ideas.
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nothing is worse than the subtle racism of lowered expectations
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They designed a series of experiments in which white participants were asked to respond to a hypothetical or presumed-real interaction partner. For half of these participants, their partner was given a stereotypically white name (such as Emily); for the other half, their partner was given a stereotypically black name (such as Lakisha). Participants were asked to select from a list of words for an email to their partner. For some studies, this email was for a work-related task; for others, this email was simply to introduce themselves. Each word had been previously scored on how warm or competent it appears. The word sad, for example, scored low for both warmth and competence. Melancholy, on the other hand, scored high for competence and low on warmth.

Participant also completed a variety of measures that assessed how liberal they were.

The researchers found that liberal individuals were less likely to use words that would make them appear highly competent when the person they were addressing was presumed to be black rather than white. No significant differences were seen in the word selection of conservatives based on the presumed race of their partner. It was kind of an unpleasant surprise to see this subtle but persistent effect, Dupree says. Even if its ultimately well-intentioned, it could be seen as patronizing.

Dupree and Fiske suspect that the behavior stems from a liberal persons desire to connect with other races. One possible reason for the competence downshift, as the authors describe it, is that, regardless of race, people tend to downplay their competence when they want to appear likeable and friendly. But its also possible that this is happening because people are using common stereotypes in an effort to get along, Dupree says.

Initial data from follow-up studies suggest that describing a black person as highly intelligent, thus reversing the stereotype, or as already highly motivated to get along with whites, thus removing the need to prove goodwill, can reduce the likelihood that a white person will downplay their competence in their interactions with the black person.

Now, Dupree is working to understand how these behaviors play out in real-world organizations: for example, whether medical professionals engage in this behavior when interacting with minority patients and how corporate executives present themselves to minority peers. She is also testing the efficacy of this possibly strategic behavior: for example, do black receivers of white liberals competence downshift see this behavior as demeaning or endearing?

Theres a lot of research focused on biased individuals and how holding bias, especially implicit bias, can influence social interactions, Dupree says. But that leaves a lot of people out. My hope is that this work will help include well-intentioned people who see themselves as allies but who may be unwittingly contributing to group divides. There is a broader need to include them in the conversation.
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Racism is bad.
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yikes for those people

it is obvious to people when they are being patronized tbh but this is a dubious article at best when it tries to blanket 'liberals' as if that is some kind of monolithic group
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DanAnsumHandsom posted...

nothing is worse than the subtle racism of lowered expectations

Dude, a lot of people dont even know what that is and they certainly would not admit to perpetuating it even if they did know.
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lul
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One of my best friends is of Mexican and native American descent and he often gets annoyed at me for using words he doesn't know, so not really sure what this alleged phenomenon is.
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andel posted...

yikes for those people

it is obvious to people when they are being patronized tbh but this is a dubious article at best when it tries to blanket 'liberals' as if that is some kind of monolithic group

It's based on research. It isn't just some opinion piece.
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color me surprised the sjws are the ACTUAL bigots
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DanAnsumHandsom posted...

nothing is worse than the subtle racism of lowered expectations

its certainly subtle racism but hardly the worst.

assuming someone isnt as smart is offensive but hardly as heinous as lynching.
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So, basically, liberals aren't any less racist than conservatives, they just try to dress it up as a positive thing.

Exactly what everyone in the middle has been saying for years.
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Imagine being racist against your own race simply for partisan chicanery.
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spudger posted...

DanAnsumHandsom posted...

nothing is worse than the subtle racism of lowered expectations

its certainly subtle racism but hardly the worst.

assuming someone isnt as smart is offensive but hardly as heinous as lynching.

Wutabout lynching?

From 1882 to 1968, "...nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, and three passed the House. Seven presidents between 1890 and 1952 petitioned Congress to pass a federal law."[22] No bill was approved by the Senate because of the powerful opposition of the Southern Democratic voting bloc.[22]
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Funbazooka posted...

spudger posted...

DanAnsumHandsom posted...

nothing is worse than the subtle racism of lowered expectations

its certainly subtle racism but hardly the worst.

assuming someone isnt as smart is offensive but hardly as heinous as lynching.

Wutabout lynching?

From 1882 to 1968, "...nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, and three passed the House. Seven presidents between 1890 and 1952 petitioned Congress to pass a federal law."[22] No bill was approved by the Senate because of the powerful opposition of the Southern Democratic voting bloc.[22]

The southern Democratic voting bloc all switched to Republican in the 60s once the civil rights act passed. But you knew that and you're just playing dumb.
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Genocet_10-325 posted...

Funbazooka posted...

spudger posted...

DanAnsumHandsom posted...

nothing is worse than the subtle racism of lowered expectations

its certainly subtle racism but hardly the worst.

assuming someone isnt as smart is offensive but hardly as heinous as lynching.

Wutabout lynching?

From 1882 to 1968, "...nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, and three passed the House. Seven presidents between 1890 and 1952 petitioned Congress to pass a federal law."[22] No bill was approved by the Senate because of the powerful opposition of the Southern Democratic voting bloc.[22]

The southern Democratic voting bloc all switched to Republican in the 60s once the civil rights act passed. But you knew that and you're just playing dumb.

S W I T C H E D S I D E S
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Genocet_10-325 posted...

Funbazooka posted...

spudger posted...

DanAnsumHandsom posted...

nothing is worse than the subtle racism of lowered expectations

its certainly subtle racism but hardly the worst.

assuming someone isnt as smart is offensive but hardly as heinous as lynching.

Wutabout lynching?

From 1882 to 1968, "...nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced in Congress, and three passed the House. Seven presidents between 1890 and 1952 petitioned Congress to pass a federal law."[22] No bill was approved by the Senate because of the powerful opposition of the Southern Democratic voting bloc.[22]

The southern Democratic voting bloc all switched to Republican in the 60s once the civil rights act passed. But you knew that and you're just playing dumb.

He's gonna say that never happened.
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This could also be a form of classism. Seeing those of "lower status" as less likely to either know the "fancy" words or simply will think ill of you if you use them.

Ultimately, I think most everyone changes up their language depending on who they are around. Many do it to fit in and not appear pretentious or whatever. I'm not sure it's done because they think X is stupid, but simply a desire to be liked.
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Funbazooka posted...

it was harder to find speeches from Republicans delivered to minority audiences,

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Did they just do the experiment with black names or did they try it with other ethnic names?

I would be a little surprised if they would treat someone with a stereotypical black name the same as they would a stereotypical East Asian name. Since the stereotype for asians is that they are very smart and well educated.
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I present myself as less competent to everyone though.

Doom_Art posted...

Funbazooka posted...

it was harder to find speeches from Republicans delivered to minority audiences,

Still cant argue with that lack of statistical significance so dont know what youre emoting about.
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Esrac posted...

Since the stereotype for asians is that they are very smart and well educated.

But also not very good at speaking English. I wouldn't really be able to place them on a political spectrum, but I know a lot of people who've deliberately spoken broken English around Asians, especially those who indeed don't speak the best English themself.
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Libs are definitely super racist. I see it all the time.
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