Sylvia P Perry
Biographic Data
| ID | 222840 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sylvia P Perry |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sylvia P |
| FAMILY NAME | Perry |
| SIGNATURE | PERRY S P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Northwestern University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3435-3125 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 225 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1943 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Is academia for everyone? A closer look into the experiences of U.S. psychology doctoral students
Graduate school can be a highly uncertain and stressful time. Stressors may be exacerbated for individuals with historically marginalized social identities within the academy (e.g., female students, students from low‐income backgrounds, and people of color). We predicted that female students and students of color would report more negative program experiences, and that these identities, along with financial status, would be associated with decrea…
From Data to Discovery: Unsupervised Machine Learning's Role in Social Cognition
The study of how cognition and society interact is a complex endeavor that demands multiple methods and tools. Yet research in social cognition has only begun to capitalize on unsupervised machine learning (UML) tools that can uncover hidden patterns in data. In this tutorial, we introduce UML as a complementary approach to traditional statistical methods. We illustrate four methods (K-means clustering, Density-Based Clustering of Applications Wi…
White parents’ racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children’s pro-white biases
Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended to curb White U.S. children's racial biases, little work has tested their influence. We designed a guided racism discussion task for U.S. White parents and their 8-12-year-old White children. We explored whether children's and parents' (a) pro-White implicit biases changed pre to postconversation, (b) racial socialization messages (color conscious, external attributions for prejudiced…
Understanding the challenges and opportunities of talking to children about race and racism in child‐facing institutions
Researchers from a range of disciplines emphasize that effectively socializing children about race and racism is vital to promoting positive outcomes, such as disrupting the development of racist attitudes and beliefs. While parents and guardians influence children's racial attitudes and beliefs, children also learn about race and racism from many other important adults in their lives, such as teachers, community leaders, and librarians. Yet race…
Applying the Evidence We Have: Support for Having Race Conversations in White U.S. Families
Popular press articles have advocated for parent–child conversations about race and racism to prevent children from developing racial biases, yet empirical investigations of the impact of racial socialization in White U.S. families are scarce. In an article published in Perspectives on Psychological Science in 2020, Scott et al. warned that, given the lack of empirical evidence, parents might actually do more harm than good by talking to their ch…
Racial Socialization Messages in White Parents' Discussions of Current Events Involving Racism With Their Adolescents
This study presents a thematic analysis of socialization messages about race and racism in White parents' reports of their discussions with adolescents about current events involving racism (e.g., police brutality toward Black Americans). Two samples of White parents of primarily White adolescents ages 14-17 were recruited online in September 2019 (Study 1, N = 123) and June 2020 (Study 2, N = 104). Key themes included color-conscious messages, c…
Reckless gambles and responsible ventures: Racialized prototypes of risk-taking
1,603, predominantly White residents of the United States) examining whether prototypes of risk-takers-primarily reckless and responsible ones-activate racial stereotypes and discrimination. We first focused on whether participants perceive Black (vs. White) men as more likely to engage in risk-taking, broadly construed (Study 1). Next, we tested whether the trait attributions (Studies 2 and 3) and mental images constructed with the reverse corre…
Socialization of racial ideology by White parents
Objectives: The ways that White American parents socialize their children to think about and interact with racial out-groups are not well understood. The goals of this study were to explore the degree to which White parents endorse contradictory racial ideologies, and the reasons behind the presence versus absence of parent-child discussions of race-related current events (e.g., Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, or the Charleston church shooting). M…
Testing a self‐affirmation intervention for improving the psychosocial health of Black and White medical students in the United States
Self‐affirmation interventions have been shown to mitigate the negative psychological effects of stereotype threat on Black students in secondary and undergraduate education. However, there is currently limited research testing whether Black students in medical schools may also experience the negative influences of stereotype threat. Until now, it has been unclear whether Black (vs. White) students experience a lower sense of belonging in medical…
Initial Evidence that Parent-Child Conversations About Race Reduce Racial Biases Among White U.S. Children
Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended as a way to curb children’s racial biases, no prior work has directly tested the impact of such conversations on children’s racial attitudes. In fact, most White American parents avoid talking about racism with their children. We designed a method to facilitate conversations about subtle and blatant forms of racial bias between White parents and their 8-12-year-olds. We explored the e…
Bias Awareness Predicts Color Conscious Racial Socialization Methods among White Parents
The majority of White parents in the United States are uncomfortable discussing race with their children and tend to avoid it. When they do discuss race with their children, they often take a color blind approach—in which they emphasize a belief that race does not matter—instead of a color conscious approach—in which they acknowledge race‐related issues. In the current study, we sought to explore the individual difference factors that may be asso…
The Value of Interracial Contact for Reducing Anti-Black Bias Among Non-Black Physicians: A Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation (CHANGE) Study Report
Although scholars have long studied circumstances that shape prejudice, inquiry into factors associated with long-term prejudice reduction has been more limited. Using a 6-year longitudinal study of non-Black physicians in training ( N = 3,134), we examined the effect of three medical-school factors-interracial contact, medical-school environment, and diversity training-on explicit and implicit racial bias measured during medical residency. When …
Zero-sum beliefs of racial progress
A comparison of clinicians' racial biases in the United States and France
Beyond generalized sexual prejudice: Need for closure predicts negative attitudes toward bisexual people relative to gay/lesbian people
Informal Training Experiences and Explicit Bias against African Americans among Medical Students
Despite the widespread inclusion of diversity-related curricula in US medical training, racial disparities in the quality of care and physician bias in medical treatment persist. The present study examined the effects of both formal and informal experiences on non-African American medical students' ( N =2922) attitudes toward African Americans in a longitudinal study of 49 randomly selected US medical schools. We assessed the effects experiences …
The Impact of Everyday Discrimination and Racial Identity Centrality on African American Medical Student Well-Being: A Report from the Medical Student CHANGE Study
Racial Identity and Mental Well-Being: The Experience of African American Medical Students, A Report from the Medical Student CHANGE Study
Medical School Experiences Associated with Change in Implicit Racial Bias Among 3547 Students: A Medical Student CHANGES Study Report
BACKGROUND: Physician implicit (unconscious, automatic) bias has been shown to contribute to racial disparities in medical care. The impact of medical education on implicit racial bias is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between change in student implicit racial bias towards African Americans and student reports on their experiences with 1) formal curricula related to disparities in health and health care, cultural competence, and/o…
Do Contact and Empathy Mitigate Bias Against Gay and Lesbian People Among Heterosexual First-Year Medical Students? A Report From the Medical Student CHANGE Study
PURPOSE: A recent Institute of Medicine report concluded that lesbian and gay individuals face discrimination from health care providers and called for research on provider attitudes. Medical school is a critical juncture for improving future providers' treatment of sexual minorities. This study examined both explicit bias and implicit bias against lesbian women and gay men among first-year medical students, focusing on two predictors of such bia…
Modern prejudice: Subtle, but unconscious? The role of Bias Awareness in Whites' perceptions of personal and others' biases
The joint effect of bias awareness and self-reported prejudice on intergroup anxiety and intentions for intergroup contact
Two correlational studies investigated the joint effect of bias awareness-a new individual difference measure that assesses Whites' awareness and concern about their propensity to be biased-and prejudice on Whites' intergroup anxiety and intended intergroup contact. Using a community sample (Study 1), we found the predicted Bias Awareness × Prejudice interaction. Prejudice was more strongly related to interracial anxiety among those high (vs. low…
Social Conflict, Harmony, and Integration
This chapter examines the psychological bases of intergroup bias and conflict and considers how greater understanding of these psychological processes can guide interventions to reduce bias and facilitate social integration. The chapter first presents a brief historical overview of empirical and theoretical emphases in the social psychological study of intergroup relations. Then it reviews the normal and generally functional cognitive, motivation…
The Impact of Racism on Clinician Cognition, Behavior, and Clinical Decision Making
Over the past two decades, thousands of studies have demonstrated that Blacks receive lower quality medical care than Whites, independent of disease status, setting, insurance, and other clinically relevant factors. Despite this, there has been little progress towards eradicating these inequities. Almost a decade ago we proposed a conceptual model identifying mechanisms through which clinicians' behavior, cognition, and decision making might be i…
Making lemonade? Defensive coping style moderates the effect of stereotype threat on women’s math test performance
The Impact of Racism on Clinician Cognition, Behavior, and Clinical Decision Making
Over the past two decades, thousands of studies have demonstrated that Blacks receive lower quality medical care than Whites, independent of disease status, setting, insurance, and other clinically relevant factors. Despite this, there has been little progress towards eradicating these inequities. Almost a decade ago we proposed a conceptual model identifying mechanisms through which clinicians' behavior, cognition, and decision making might be i…
Modern prejudice: Subtle, but unconscious? The role of Bias Awareness in Whites' perceptions of personal and others' biases
Socialization of racial ideology by White parents
Objectives: The ways that White American parents socialize their children to think about and interact with racial out-groups are not well understood. The goals of this study were to explore the degree to which White parents endorse contradictory racial ideologies, and the reasons behind the presence versus absence of parent-child discussions of race-related current events (e.g., Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, or the Charleston church shooting). M…
Beyond generalized sexual prejudice: Need for closure predicts negative attitudes toward bisexual people relative to gay/lesbian people
Racial Socialization Messages in White Parents' Discussions of Current Events Involving Racism With Their Adolescents
This study presents a thematic analysis of socialization messages about race and racism in White parents' reports of their discussions with adolescents about current events involving racism (e.g., police brutality toward Black Americans). Two samples of White parents of primarily White adolescents ages 14-17 were recruited online in September 2019 (Study 1, N = 123) and June 2020 (Study 2, N = 104). Key themes included color-conscious messages, c…
The Impact of Everyday Discrimination and Racial Identity Centrality on African American Medical Student Well-Being: A Report from the Medical Student CHANGE Study
White parents’ racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children’s pro-white biases
Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended to curb White U.S. children's racial biases, little work has tested their influence. We designed a guided racism discussion task for U.S. White parents and their 8-12-year-old White children. We explored whether children's and parents' (a) pro-White implicit biases changed pre to postconversation, (b) racial socialization messages (color conscious, external attributions for prejudiced…
The Value of Interracial Contact for Reducing Anti-Black Bias Among Non-Black Physicians: A Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation (CHANGE) Study Report
Although scholars have long studied circumstances that shape prejudice, inquiry into factors associated with long-term prejudice reduction has been more limited. Using a 6-year longitudinal study of non-Black physicians in training ( N = 3,134), we examined the effect of three medical-school factors-interracial contact, medical-school environment, and diversity training-on explicit and implicit racial bias measured during medical residency. When …
Informal Training Experiences and Explicit Bias against African Americans among Medical Students
Despite the widespread inclusion of diversity-related curricula in US medical training, racial disparities in the quality of care and physician bias in medical treatment persist. The present study examined the effects of both formal and informal experiences on non-African American medical students' ( N =2922) attitudes toward African Americans in a longitudinal study of 49 randomly selected US medical schools. We assessed the effects experiences …
The joint effect of bias awareness and self-reported prejudice on intergroup anxiety and intentions for intergroup contact
Two correlational studies investigated the joint effect of bias awareness-a new individual difference measure that assesses Whites' awareness and concern about their propensity to be biased-and prejudice on Whites' intergroup anxiety and intended intergroup contact. Using a community sample (Study 1), we found the predicted Bias Awareness × Prejudice interaction. Prejudice was more strongly related to interracial anxiety among those high (vs. low…
Bias Awareness Predicts Color Conscious Racial Socialization Methods among White Parents
The majority of White parents in the United States are uncomfortable discussing race with their children and tend to avoid it. When they do discuss race with their children, they often take a color blind approach—in which they emphasize a belief that race does not matter—instead of a color conscious approach—in which they acknowledge race‐related issues. In the current study, we sought to explore the individual difference factors that may be asso…
Understanding the challenges and opportunities of talking to children about race and racism in child‐facing institutions
Researchers from a range of disciplines emphasize that effectively socializing children about race and racism is vital to promoting positive outcomes, such as disrupting the development of racist attitudes and beliefs. While parents and guardians influence children's racial attitudes and beliefs, children also learn about race and racism from many other important adults in their lives, such as teachers, community leaders, and librarians. Yet race…
Racial Identity and Mental Well-Being: The Experience of African American Medical Students, A Report from the Medical Student CHANGE Study
Initial Evidence that Parent-Child Conversations About Race Reduce Racial Biases Among White U.S. Children
Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended as a way to curb children’s racial biases, no prior work has directly tested the impact of such conversations on children’s racial attitudes. In fact, most White American parents avoid talking about racism with their children. We designed a method to facilitate conversations about subtle and blatant forms of racial bias between White parents and their 8-12-year-olds. We explored the e…
A comparison of clinicians' racial biases in the United States and France
Reckless gambles and responsible ventures: Racialized prototypes of risk-taking
1,603, predominantly White residents of the United States) examining whether prototypes of risk-takers-primarily reckless and responsible ones-activate racial stereotypes and discrimination. We first focused on whether participants perceive Black (vs. White) men as more likely to engage in risk-taking, broadly construed (Study 1). Next, we tested whether the trait attributions (Studies 2 and 3) and mental images constructed with the reverse corre…
Testing a self‐affirmation intervention for improving the psychosocial health of Black and White medical students in the United States
Self‐affirmation interventions have been shown to mitigate the negative psychological effects of stereotype threat on Black students in secondary and undergraduate education. However, there is currently limited research testing whether Black students in medical schools may also experience the negative influences of stereotype threat. Until now, it has been unclear whether Black (vs. White) students experience a lower sense of belonging in medical…
From Data to Discovery: Unsupervised Machine Learning's Role in Social Cognition
The study of how cognition and society interact is a complex endeavor that demands multiple methods and tools. Yet research in social cognition has only begun to capitalize on unsupervised machine learning (UML) tools that can uncover hidden patterns in data. In this tutorial, we introduce UML as a complementary approach to traditional statistical methods. We illustrate four methods (K-means clustering, Density-Based Clustering of Applications Wi…
Case work treatment of adult patients of a psychiatric clinic 1
Casework with the neurotic client
Making lemonade? Defensive coping style moderates the effect of stereotype threat on women’s math test performance
The Impact of Racism on Clinician Cognition, Behavior, and Clinical Decision Making
Over the past two decades, thousands of studies have demonstrated that Blacks receive lower quality medical care than Whites, independent of disease status, setting, insurance, and other clinically relevant factors. Despite this, there has been little progress towards eradicating these inequities. Almost a decade ago we proposed a conceptual model identifying mechanisms through which clinicians' behavior, cognition, and decision making might be i…
Social Conflict, Harmony, and Integration
This chapter examines the psychological bases of intergroup bias and conflict and considers how greater understanding of these psychological processes can guide interventions to reduce bias and facilitate social integration. The chapter first presents a brief historical overview of empirical and theoretical emphases in the social psychological study of intergroup relations. Then it reviews the normal and generally functional cognitive, motivation…
The joint effect of bias awareness and self-reported prejudice on intergroup anxiety and intentions for intergroup contact
Two correlational studies investigated the joint effect of bias awareness-a new individual difference measure that assesses Whites' awareness and concern about their propensity to be biased-and prejudice on Whites' intergroup anxiety and intended intergroup contact. Using a community sample (Study 1), we found the predicted Bias Awareness × Prejudice interaction. Prejudice was more strongly related to interracial anxiety among those high (vs. low…
Medical School Experiences Associated with Change in Implicit Racial Bias Among 3547 Students: A Medical Student CHANGES Study Report
BACKGROUND: Physician implicit (unconscious, automatic) bias has been shown to contribute to racial disparities in medical care. The impact of medical education on implicit racial bias is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between change in student implicit racial bias towards African Americans and student reports on their experiences with 1) formal curricula related to disparities in health and health care, cultural competence, and/o…
Do Contact and Empathy Mitigate Bias Against Gay and Lesbian People Among Heterosexual First-Year Medical Students? A Report From the Medical Student CHANGE Study
PURPOSE: A recent Institute of Medicine report concluded that lesbian and gay individuals face discrimination from health care providers and called for research on provider attitudes. Medical school is a critical juncture for improving future providers' treatment of sexual minorities. This study examined both explicit bias and implicit bias against lesbian women and gay men among first-year medical students, focusing on two predictors of such bia…
Modern prejudice: Subtle, but unconscious? The role of Bias Awareness in Whites' perceptions of personal and others' biases
Informal Training Experiences and Explicit Bias against African Americans among Medical Students
Despite the widespread inclusion of diversity-related curricula in US medical training, racial disparities in the quality of care and physician bias in medical treatment persist. The present study examined the effects of both formal and informal experiences on non-African American medical students' ( N =2922) attitudes toward African Americans in a longitudinal study of 49 randomly selected US medical schools. We assessed the effects experiences …
The Impact of Everyday Discrimination and Racial Identity Centrality on African American Medical Student Well-Being: A Report from the Medical Student CHANGE Study
Racial Identity and Mental Well-Being: The Experience of African American Medical Students, A Report from the Medical Student CHANGE Study
Beyond generalized sexual prejudice: Need for closure predicts negative attitudes toward bisexual people relative to gay/lesbian people
A comparison of clinicians' racial biases in the United States and France
Bias Awareness Predicts Color Conscious Racial Socialization Methods among White Parents
The majority of White parents in the United States are uncomfortable discussing race with their children and tend to avoid it. When they do discuss race with their children, they often take a color blind approach—in which they emphasize a belief that race does not matter—instead of a color conscious approach—in which they acknowledge race‐related issues. In the current study, we sought to explore the individual difference factors that may be asso…
The Value of Interracial Contact for Reducing Anti-Black Bias Among Non-Black Physicians: A Cognitive Habits and Growth Evaluation (CHANGE) Study Report
Although scholars have long studied circumstances that shape prejudice, inquiry into factors associated with long-term prejudice reduction has been more limited. Using a 6-year longitudinal study of non-Black physicians in training ( N = 3,134), we examined the effect of three medical-school factors-interracial contact, medical-school environment, and diversity training-on explicit and implicit racial bias measured during medical residency. When …
Zero-sum beliefs of racial progress
Initial Evidence that Parent-Child Conversations About Race Reduce Racial Biases Among White U.S. Children
Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended as a way to curb children’s racial biases, no prior work has directly tested the impact of such conversations on children’s racial attitudes. In fact, most White American parents avoid talking about racism with their children. We designed a method to facilitate conversations about subtle and blatant forms of racial bias between White parents and their 8-12-year-olds. We explored the e…
Socialization of racial ideology by White parents
Objectives: The ways that White American parents socialize their children to think about and interact with racial out-groups are not well understood. The goals of this study were to explore the degree to which White parents endorse contradictory racial ideologies, and the reasons behind the presence versus absence of parent-child discussions of race-related current events (e.g., Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, or the Charleston church shooting). M…
Testing a self‐affirmation intervention for improving the psychosocial health of Black and White medical students in the United States
Self‐affirmation interventions have been shown to mitigate the negative psychological effects of stereotype threat on Black students in secondary and undergraduate education. However, there is currently limited research testing whether Black students in medical schools may also experience the negative influences of stereotype threat. Until now, it has been unclear whether Black (vs. White) students experience a lower sense of belonging in medical…
Applying the Evidence We Have: Support for Having Race Conversations in White U.S. Families
Popular press articles have advocated for parent–child conversations about race and racism to prevent children from developing racial biases, yet empirical investigations of the impact of racial socialization in White U.S. families are scarce. In an article published in Perspectives on Psychological Science in 2020, Scott et al. warned that, given the lack of empirical evidence, parents might actually do more harm than good by talking to their ch…
Racial Socialization Messages in White Parents' Discussions of Current Events Involving Racism With Their Adolescents
This study presents a thematic analysis of socialization messages about race and racism in White parents' reports of their discussions with adolescents about current events involving racism (e.g., police brutality toward Black Americans). Two samples of White parents of primarily White adolescents ages 14-17 were recruited online in September 2019 (Study 1, N = 123) and June 2020 (Study 2, N = 104). Key themes included color-conscious messages, c…
Reckless gambles and responsible ventures: Racialized prototypes of risk-taking
1,603, predominantly White residents of the United States) examining whether prototypes of risk-takers-primarily reckless and responsible ones-activate racial stereotypes and discrimination. We first focused on whether participants perceive Black (vs. White) men as more likely to engage in risk-taking, broadly construed (Study 1). Next, we tested whether the trait attributions (Studies 2 and 3) and mental images constructed with the reverse corre…
Understanding the challenges and opportunities of talking to children about race and racism in child‐facing institutions
Researchers from a range of disciplines emphasize that effectively socializing children about race and racism is vital to promoting positive outcomes, such as disrupting the development of racist attitudes and beliefs. While parents and guardians influence children's racial attitudes and beliefs, children also learn about race and racism from many other important adults in their lives, such as teachers, community leaders, and librarians. Yet race…
White parents’ racial socialization during a guided discussion predicts declines in white children’s pro-white biases
Although parent-child conversations about race are recommended to curb White U.S. children's racial biases, little work has tested their influence. We designed a guided racism discussion task for U.S. White parents and their 8-12-year-old White children. We explored whether children's and parents' (a) pro-White implicit biases changed pre to postconversation, (b) racial socialization messages (color conscious, external attributions for prejudiced…
Psychology (26 works) · Social Psychology (19 works) · Racial and Ethnic Identity Research (15 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Social and Intergroup Psychology (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Racism (10 works) · Developmental psychology (8 works) · Gender Studies (8 works) · Medicine (8 works)