Research Symposium

BIO

I am in my third year at FSU pursuing a degree in psychology. I have grown to love the research side of psychology, specifically in the social domain. Group dynamics, bias, threat-perception, first impressions, and intellectual humility are areas that I enjoy exploring and have looked into throughout my time at FSU. After graduation, I aim to continue my studies all the way to a Ph.D.

View from the Right: Political Orientation and the Automatic Association Between Black and Physical Threat

Abstract

White Americans hold an automatic association linking Black with physical danger threat. Across various domains, conservatives tend to be more threat-sensitive. Consequently, conservatism may be associated with a stronger link between Black and physical danger threat. The current research tests whether conservatism (among Whites) moderates the association between Black versus White and physical danger threat. Pilot Studies 1a and 1b clarify that conservatism is specifically associated with physical danger versus other threats. In Study 1, conservatism versus liberalism strengthened the perceptions of physical danger threat of unambiguously Black stimuli. In Study 2, conservatism strengthened the association between perceiving point-light walkers as physical danger threats and as Black versus White. In Study 3, conservatism strengthened the association between perceiving names as physical danger threats and as Black versus White. Consequently, anti-Black attitudes among more conservative versus liberal individuals may be more so underlied by associations linking Black to physical danger threat.

Keywords: Prejudice, Political Orientation, Threat, Bias, Conservatism