Testing intergroup contact theory through a natural experiment of randomized college roommate assignments in the United States.

Many colleges and universities seek to leverage the promise of intergroup contact theory by adopting housing policies that randomly assign first-year students to roommates, with the goal of increasing intergroup contact. Yet, it is unclear whether random roommate assignment policies increase cross-race contact, whether this (potentially involuntary, but sanctioned by authorities) contact improves racial attitudes or behaviors, or how these effects may differ for racial majority and minority students. The present studies used a natural experiment of random roommate assignment to directly test roommate relationship, attitudinal, and behavioral changes based on roommate race. Across three samples drawn from two student cohorts, the random assignment policy increased the likelihood that students had a cross-race roommate because without the policy, students tended to self-segregate by race. Moreover, selecting (Study 1) or being randomly assigned (Study 2) a cross-race roommate was associated with having more racial outgroup friends and demonstrating more positive verbal and nonverbal behavior during a novel cross-race interaction (Study 3). There were no roommate group (same vs. cross-race roommates) differences in relationship quality, and the results were largely independent of participant race. These findings suggest randomized roommate assignment is a promising avenue for universities to promote cross-race contact amid persistent racial segregation on college campuses with limited negative consequences for relationship quality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The relationship between racial/ethnic identification and body ideal internalization, hair satisfaction, and skin tone satisfaction in black and black/white biracial women.

Eurocentric physical characteristics, including a thin, tall physique, long straight hair, and fair skin, typify Western beauty standards. Past research indicates that for Black women, greater identification with one's racial/ethnic culture may buffer against internalizing Eurocentric beauty standards, specifically the thin ideal. Black/White Biracial women often experience different appearance pressures from each of their racial identity's sociocultural appearance ideals. Unfortunately, body image research is limited among Bi/Multiracial individuals. Participants were recruited online via Prime Panels, a high-quality data recruitment service provided by CloudResearch. Participants, M(SD)Age= 34.64 (12.85), self-reported their racial/ethnic identification, thin and thick/curvy ideal internalization, and hair and skin tone satisfaction. Using linear regression analyses, we assessed whether racial/ethnic identification buffered against monoracial Black (n = 317) and Black/White Biracial (n = 254) women's thin ideal internalization. Additionally, we assessed whether stronger racial/ethnic identity was associated with stronger thick/curvy ideal internalization and hair and skin tone satisfaction. Supporting hypotheses, greater racial/ethnic identification was associated with higher thick/curvy ideal internalization and hair and skin tone satisfaction among both Black and Biracial women. Contrary to hypotheses, greater racial/ethnic identification was not associated with lower thin ideal internalization in either group. Our results stress the need to use racially and culturally sensitive measurements of body image.

The rich get richer? Children's reasoning about socioeconomic status predicts inclusion and resource bias.

Children's socioeconomic status (SES) is linked to disparate access to resources and affects social behaviors such as inclusion and resource allocations. Yet it is unclear whether children's essentialized view of SES (i.e., believing SES is immutable) or subjective social status (SSS) influences behavioral biases toward high- versus low-SES peers. We measured 4- to 9-year-old children's SES essentialism and SSS to test whether these predict inclusion and resource allocations to high- versus low-SES peers (N = 127; from a midsize city in the Southeastern United States; 49.6% female; parent-reported 54.2% White, 2.8% Black, 8.3% Latine, 5.6% Asian, 1.4% another race, 27.8% multiracial, 43.3% not provided). We also compared children's SES beliefs to their parent's. Children's SES essentialism and SSS decreased across the ages tested, and children reported higher SSS than their parents. Parents' SES essentialism predicted younger (but not older) children's SES essentialism. Moreover, SES essentialism mediated the negative relationship between age and preference for including high-SES peers, while SSS mediated the negative relationship between age and preference for allocating more resources to high-SES peers. This suggests that beliefs about the nature of SES may influence sociorelational behavior like including or excluding others, while perceived social status (SSS) may influence resource allocations. Furthermore, older children and those with lower SES essentialism included low- versus high-SES peers more often while older and lower SSS children distributed more resources toward low- versus high-SES peers. Thus, children's SES essentialism and SSS may also influence their behaviors to either perpetuate or rectify inequality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Hypodescent or ingroup overexclusion?: Children's and adults' racial categorization of ambiguous black/white biracial faces.

Two processes describe racially ambiguous Black/White Biracial categorization-the one-drop rule, or hypodescent, whereby racially ambiguous people are categorized as members of their socially subordinated racial group (i.e., Black/White Biracial faces categorized as Black) and the ingroup overexclusion effect, whereby racially ambiguous people are categorized as members of a salient outgroup, regardless of the group's status. Without developmental research with racially diverse samples, it is unclear when these categorization patterns emerge. Study 1 included White, Black, and racially diverse Biracial children (aged 3- to 7-years) and their parents to test how racial group membership and social context influence face categorization biases. To provide the clearest test of hypodescent and ingroup overexclusion, White participants came from majority White neighborhoods and Black participants from majority Black neighborhoods (with Biracial participants from more racially diverse neighborhoods)-two samples with prominent racial ingroups. Study 2 aimed to replicate the parent findings with a separate sample of White, Black, Black/White Biracial, and Asian adults. Results suggest the ingroup overexclusion effect is present across populations early in development and persists into adulthood. Additionally, categorization was meaningfully related to parental context, pinpointing a pathway that potentially contributes to ingroup overexclusion. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: White, Black, and racially diverse Biracial children and adults tended to categorize racially ambiguous Black/White Biracial faces as racial outgroup members, even if the outgroup was White. This contradicts most work arguing Black/White Biracial racially ambiguous people are more often seen as Black. Children and parents' categorizations were related, though children's categorizations were not related to socialization above and beyond parents' categorizations. Children showed similar categorization patterns across dichotomous and continuous measures.

Race differences in patient trust and distrust from audio-recorded cardiology encounters.

OBJECTIVE: Many have reported racial disparities in self-reported trust in clinicians but have not directly assessed expressions of trust and distrust in physician-patient encounters. We created a codebook to examine racial differences in patient trust and distrust through audio-recorded cardiologist-patient interactions. METHODS: We analyzed data from a randomized controlled trial of audio-recorded outpatient cardiology encounters (50 White and 51 Black patients). We created a codebook for trust and distrust that was applied to recordings between White cardiologists and White and Black patients. We assessed differences in trust, distrust, and guardedness while adjusting for patient age, sex, and first appointment with the cardiologist. RESULTS: Compared to White patients, Black patients had significantly lower expressions of trust ([IRR] [95 % CI]: 0.59 [0.41, 0.84]) and a significantly lower mean guarded/open score ([ß] [95 % CI] -0.38 [-0.71, -0.04]). There was no statistically significant association between race and odds of at least one distrustful expression (OR [95 % CI] 1.36 [0.37, 4.94]). CONCLUSION AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: We found that coders can reliably identify patient expressions of trust and distrust rather than relying on problematic self-reported measures. Results suggest that White clinicians can improve their communication with Black patients to increase expressions of trust.

Parent and self-socialization of gender intergroup attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors among ethnically and geographically diverse young children.

Previous work has shown the robust nature of gender bias in both children and adults. However, much less attention has been paid toward understanding what factors shape these biases. The current preregistered study used parent surveys and child interviews to test whether parents' conversations with their children about and modeling of gender intergroup relations and/or children's self-guided interests about gender (self-socialization) contribute to the formation of gender attitudes, status perceptions, and gender intergroup behaviors among young 4- to 6-year-old children. Our participant sample also allowed us to explore variation by child gender, ethnicity (Asian-, Black-, Latiné-, and White-American), and U.S. geographical region (Northeast, Pacific Northwest, West, Southeast, and Hawaii). Data suggest that children whose parents reported they were especially active in seeking information about gender tended to allocate more resources to same-gender versus other-gender children and expressed less positive evaluations of other-gender children in comparison to children who were less active. By contrast, we found that parents' conversations with their children about gender intergroup relations and about gender-play stereotypes showed few connections with children's gender attitudes. In terms of demographic differences, boys raised in households with more unequal versus equal division of labor perceived that men had higher status than women, but few differences by ethnicity or geographic region emerged. In sum, our study suggests that both self- and parent socialization processes are at play in shaping early gender attitudes, status perceptions, and gender intergroup behavior, although self-socialization seemed to play a larger role. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Intergroup Context Moderates the Impact of White Americans' Identification on Racial Categorization of Ambiguous Faces.

We examined how the number of groups in a categorization task influences how White Americans categorize ambiguous faces. We investigated the strength of identity-driven ingroup overexclusion-wherein highly identified perceivers overexclude ambiguous members from the ingroup-proposing that, compared with dichotomous tasks (with only the ingroup and one outgroup), tasks with more outgroups attenuate identity-driven ingroup overexclusion (a dilution effect). Fourteen studies (n = 4,001) measured White Americans' racial identification and their categorizations of ambiguous faces and manipulated the categorization task to have two groups, three groups, or an unspecified number of groups (open-ended). In all three conditions, participants overexcluded faces from the White category on average. There was limited support for the dilution effect: identity-driven ingroup overexclusion was absent in the three-group task and only weakly supported in the open-ended task. The presence of multiple outgroups may dampen the impact of racial identity on race perceptions among White Americans.

A qualitative analysis of trust and distrust within patient-clinician interactions.

Objectives: Trust represents a key quality of strong clinician-patient relationships.1 Many have attempted to assess patient-reported trust. However, most trust measures suffer from ceiling effects, with no variability, making it not possible to examine predictors of trust and distrust. Rather than rely on patient reports, we created a codebook for instances of trust and distrust from actual patient-clinician encounters. Methods: Three coders conducted a qualitative analysis of audio recordings among patient-cardiologist outpatient encounters. Results: We identified trust and distrust based on vocal and verbal cues in the interactions. We found consistent patterns that indicated patient trust and distrust. Conclusion: Overall, this work empirically validates a new more accurate measurement of trust for patient-doctor interactions. Innovation: We are the first to use audio recordings to identify verbal markers of trust and distrust in patient-clinician interactions. From this work, others can code trust and distrust in recorded encounters rather than rely on self-report measures.

Children's cross-cultural categorizations of racially ambiguous faces in Taiwan and the U.S.

OBJECTIVES: Racially ambiguous face categorization research is growing in prominence, and yet the majority of this work has focused on White and Western samples and has primarily used biracial Black/White stimuli. Past findings suggest that biracial Black/White faces are more often seen as Black than White, but without testing these perceptions with other groups, generalizability cannot be guaranteed. METHODS: We tested 3-7-year-old Asian children living in Taiwan-an Eastern cultural context (N = 74)-and Asian children living in the U.S.-a Western cultural context (N = 65) to explore the role that cultural group membership may play in biracial perceptions. Children categorized 12 racially ambiguous biracial Black/White faces and 12 biracial Asian/White faces in a dichotomous forced-choice task and completed a racial constancy measurement. RESULTS: Regarding biracial Black/White faces, Taiwanese and Asian American children both categorized the faces as White significantly more often compared to chance levels, regardless of racial constancy beliefs. For biracial Asian/White faces, Taiwanese children with racial constancy beliefs categorized the faces significantly more often as White, whereas Taiwanese children without racial constancy beliefs categorized the faces significantly more often as Asian. However, Asian American children did not show a bias in categorizing biracial Asian/White faces. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that hyperdescent over hypodescent for more commonly studied biracial Black/White faces generalizes in both cultural contexts. However, biracial Asian/White stimuli may be perceived in more fixed-like patterns in predominately Asian contexts, since only Taiwanese children showed increased outgroup categorizations once racial constancy beliefs were endorsed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Development and validation of a measure of curvy ideals internalization.

Several sociocultural female body ideals exist - thin, muscular/athletic, and, more recently, curvier ideals, which research specifically suggests are more prevalent among Black women. Two validated measures assess women's desire for curvier bodies, but neither assess certain facets of curvy ideals (e.g., thick vs. slim-thick) separately. We developed and validated the Curvy Ideals Internalization (CII) Scale, to be used alone or alongside existing measures of appearance ideal internalization. Focus groups among racially/ethnically diverse women informed initial items. A sample of 897 White (37.1%), Black (34.2%), and biracial Black and White (28.7%) U.S. women completed the initial 37-item CII to determine factor structure, narrow the item pool, and examine validity and reliability. A separate sample (N = 366) of U.S. Black, White, and biracial women completed the CII to confirm the factor structure. The final CII has eleven items, with factors assessing thick/curvy ideal internalization and facets of slim-thick ideal internalization: thin waist and large breast size. The CII has adequate internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity, and factorial validity. The CII is appropriate for use among Black, White, and biracial women to assess internalization of curvier body ideals and needs to be validated in more diverse samples.

How White American Children Develop Racial Biases in Emotion Reasoning.

For decades, affective scientists have examined how adults and children reason about others' emotions. Yet, our knowledge is limited regarding how emotion reasoning is impacted by race-that is, how individuals reason about emotions displayed by people of other racial groups. In this review, we examine the developmental origins of racial biases in emotion reasoning, focusing on how White Americans reason about emotions displayed by Black faces/people. We highlight how racial biases in emotion reasoning, which emerge as early as infancy, likely contribute to miscommunications, inaccurate social perceptions, and negative interracial interactions across the lifespan. We conclude by discussing promising interventions to reduce these biases as well as future research directions, highlighting how affective scientists can decenter Whiteness in their research designs. Together, this review highlights how emotion reasoning is a potentially affective component of racial bias among White Americans.

Psychological Science in the Wake of COVID-19: Social, Methodological, and Metascientific Considerations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has extensively changed the state of psychological science from what research questions psychologists can ask to which methodologies psychologists can use to investigate them. In this article, we offer a perspective on how to optimize new research in the pandemic's wake. Because this pandemic is inherently a social phenomenon-an event that hinges on human-to-human contact-we focus on socially relevant subfields of psychology. We highlight specific psychological phenomena that have likely shifted as a result of the pandemic and discuss theoretical, methodological, and practical considerations of conducting research on these phenomena. After this discussion, we evaluate metascientific issues that have been amplified by the pandemic. We aim to demonstrate how theoretically grounded views on the COVID-19 pandemic can help make psychological science stronger-not weaker-in its wake.

A Meta-Analytic Review of Hypodescent Patterns in Categorizing Multiracial and Racially Ambiguous Targets.

Research addressing the increasing multiracial population (i.e., identifying with two or more races) is rapidly expanding. This meta-analysis (k = 55) examines categorization patterns consistent with hypodescent, or the tendency to categorize multiracial targets as their lower status racial group. Subgroup analyses suggest that operationalization of multiracial (e.g., presenting photos of racially ambiguous faces, or ancestry information sans picture), target gender, and categorization measurement (e.g., selecting from binary choices: Black or White; or multiple categorization options: Black, White, or multiracial) moderated categorization patterns. Operationalizing multiracial as ancestry, male targets, and measuring categorization with binary or multiple Likert-type scale outcomes supported hypodescent. However, categorizing multiracial targets as not their lower status racial group occurred for female targets or multiple categorization options. Evidence was mixed on whether perceiver and target race were related to categorization patterns. These results point to future directions for understanding categorization processes and multiracial perception.

Race, Gender, and the Development of Cross-Race Egalitarianism.

Over the course of development, children acquire adult-like thinking about social categories such as race, which in turn informs their perceptions, attitudes, and behavior. However, children's developing perceptions of race have been understudied particularly with respect to their potential influence on cross-race egalitarianism. Specifically, the acquisition of racial constancy, defined as the perception that race is a concrete and stable category, has been associated with increased awareness of racial stereotypes and group status differences. Yet, little work has investigated behavioral outcomes stemming from the acquisition of racial constancy beliefs. Here, we investigate whether the presence or absence of racial constancy beliefs differentially predicts inequality aversion with racial ingroup versus outgroup members for young children. White children (N = 202; ages 3-8) completed three sticker resource-allocation games with either a White or a Black partner shown in a photograph, after which racial constancy was measured. Results revealed that the acquisition of racial constancy interacted with partner race to predict inequality aversion outcomes in one game; however, age and gender also exerted strong effects.

Thinking about multiple identities boosts children's flexible thinking.

Studies of children's developing social identification often focus on individual forms of identity. Yet, everyone has multiple potential identities. Here we investigated whether making children aware of their multifaceted identities-effectively seeing themselves from multiple angles-would promote their flexible thinking. In Experiment 1, 6- to 7-year-old children (N = 48) were assigned to either a Multiple-Identities condition where they were led to consider their multiple identities (e.g. friend, neighbor) or to a Physical-Traits condition where they considered their multiple physical attributes (e.g. legs, arms). Children in the Multiple-Identity condition subsequently expressed greater flexibility at problem-solving and categorization than children in the Physical-Traits condition. Experiment 2 (N = 72) replicated these findings with a new sample of 6- to 7-year-old children and demonstrated that a Multiple-Identity mindset must be self-relevant. Children who were led to think about another child's multiple identities did not express as much subsequent creative thinking as did children who thought about their own multiple identities. Experiment 3 (N = 76) showed that a Mmultiple-Identity framework may be particularly effective when the identities are presented via generic language suggesting that they are enduring traits (in this case, identities depicted as noun phrases rather than verbal phrases). These findings illustrate that something as simple as thinking about one's identity from multiple angles could serve as a tool to help reduce rigid thinking, which might increase open-mindedness in a society that is becoming increasingly diverse.

Experiences with microaggressions and discrimination in racially diverse and homogeneously white contexts.

OBJECTIVES: The interaction between one's context and identity may be essential in understanding people's racial experiences. In this study, we examined 2 contexts (racially diverse vs. homogenously White) and measured the experiences of discrimination and microaggressions for monoracial people of color (POC), multiracial individuals, and White individuals. Additionally, we measured experience of microaggressions with a new scale that measured instances of multiracial-specific microaggressions, and the offensiveness of these microaggressions. METHOD AND RESULTS: Through a self-reported survey, monoracial POC, multiracial individuals, and White individuals across the United States reported their experiences with discrimination and microaggressions, and offensiveness of multiracial-specific microaggressions. Overall, monoracial POC and multiracial individuals reported experiencing less discrimination and microaggressions in diverse contexts versus homogenous contexts. White individuals reported the lowest amounts of discrimination and microaggressions, which did not differ across contexts. CONCLUSIONS: Living in a racially diverse context may have positive benefits for racial minorities, and White individuals do not necessarily experience greater instances of discrimination or microaggressions in diverse contexts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Exposure to Biracial Faces Reduces Colorblindness.

Across six studies, we demonstrate that exposure to biracial individuals significantly reduces endorsement of colorblindness as a racial ideology among White individuals. Real-world exposure to biracial individuals predicts lower levels of colorblindness compared with White and Black exposure (Study 1). Brief manipulated exposure to images of biracial faces reduces colorblindness compared with exposure to White faces, Black faces, a set of diverse monoracial faces, or abstract images (Studies 2-5). In addition, these effects occur only when a biracial label is paired with the face rather than resulting from the novelty of the mixed-race faces themselves (Study 4). Finally, we show that the shift in White participants' colorblindness attitudes is driven by social tuning, based on participants' expectations that biracial individuals are lower in colorblindness than monoracial individuals (Studies 5-6). These studies suggest that the multiracial population's increasing size and visibility has the potential to positively shift racial attitudes.

Identity Denied: Comparing American or White Identity Denial and Psychological Health Outcomes Among Bicultural and Biracial People.

Because bicultural and biracial people have two identities within one social domain (culture or race), their identification is often challenged by others. Although it is established that identity denial is associated with poor psychological health, the processes through which this occurs are less understood. Across two high-powered studies, we tested identity autonomy, the perceived compatibility of identities, and social belonging as mediators of the relationship between identity denial and well-being among bicultural and biracial individuals. Bicultural and biracial participants who experienced challenges to their American or White identities felt less freedom in choosing an identity and perceived their identities as less compatible, which was ultimately associated with greater reports of depressive symptoms and stress. Study 2 replicated these results and measured social belonging, which also accounted for significant variance in well-being. The results suggest the processes were similar across populations, highlighting important implications for the generalizability to other dual-identity populations.

At face value: Psychological outcomes differ for real vs. computer-generated multiracial faces.

Multiracial research emphasizes hypodescent categorizations and relies on computer-generated stimuli. Four experiments showed that real biracial faces in a 2-Choice categorization task (White, Black) elicited hypodescent more than computer-generated faces. Additionally, Experiment 2 showed a 2-Choice categorization task with real biracial faces increased racial essentialism more than a 3-Choice categorization task. Experiment 3 showed that mere exposure to real biracial faces did not increase essentialism. Finally, Experiments 4a and 4b replicated hypodescent outcomes when comparing real biracial faces to computer-generated versions of those same faces. In sum, these findings initiate a discussion surrounding the methodology of multiracial categorizations.

Learning and Socializing Preferences in Hong Kong Chinese Children.

The impact of social group information on the learning and socializing preferences of Hong Kong Chinese children were examined. Specifically, the degree to which variability in racial out-group exposure affects children's use of race to make decisions about unfamiliar individuals (Chinese, White, Southeast Asian) was investigated. Participants (N = 212; Mage  = 60.51 months) chose functions for novel objects after informants demonstrated their use; indicated with which peer group member to socialize; and were measured on racial group recognition, preference, and identification. Overall, children preferred in-group members, though out-group exposure and the relative social status of out-groups mattered as well. At a young age, children's specific experiences with different races influence how they learn and befriend others across racial group lines.