Racial bias in judgments of physical size and formidability
From size to threat
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6207431 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Paul Wilson (0000-0002-4275-2628, Montclair State University), Kurt Hugenberg (0000-0003-1195-6916, Miami University), Nicholas O Rule (0000-0002-2332-9058, University of Toronto) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 113 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 59-80 |
| Publication date | 2017-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/pspi0000092 |
| PMID | 28287752 |
| OpenAlex | W2596084735 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 109 |
| References cited | 67 |
Black men tend to be stereotyped as threatening and, as a result, may be disproportionately targeted by police even when unarmed. Here, we found evidence that biased perceptions of young Black men's physical size may play a role in this process. The results of 7 studies showed that people have a bias to perceive young Black men as bigger (taller, heavier, more muscular) and more physically threatening (stronger, more capable of harm) than young White men. Both bottom-up cues of racial prototypicality and top-down information about race supported these misperceptions. Furthermore, this racial bias persisted even among a target sample from whom upper-body strength was controlled (suggesting that racial differences in formidability judgments are a product of bias rather than accuracy). Biased formidability judgments in turn promoted participants' justifications of hypothetical use of force against Black suspects of crime. Thus, perceivers appear to integrate multiple pieces of information to ultimately conclude that young Black men are more physically threatening than young White men, believing that they must therefore be controlled using more aggressive measures. (PsycINFO Database Record
Developmental psychology · Ethnic group · Harm · MEDLINE · Perception · Poison control · PsycINFO · Race (biology) · Racial bias · Racial differences · Racism · Social perception · White (mutation) · Evolutionary Psychology and Human Behavior · Human Factors and Ergonomics · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
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| Unique citing works | 109 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 12,11 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 104 |