Obamas successes seemed to act as a shield against this. We suspect they felt inspired and energised by his victory, so the stereotype threat wouldnt prove a distraction, says Friedman.
Lingering racism
If the Obama effect is positive for African Americans, how is it affecting their white compatriots ? Is the experience of having a charismatic black president modifying lingering racist attitudes? There is no easy way to measure racism directly; instead psychologists assess what is known as implicit bias, using a computer-based test that measures how quickly people associate positive and negative wordssuch as love or evilwith photos of black or white faces. A similar test can also measure how quickly subjects associate stereotypical traitssuch as athletic skills or mental abilitywith a particular group.
In a study that will appear in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Plants team tested 229 students during the height of the Obama fever. They found that implicit bias has fallen by as much as 90% compared with the level found in a similar study in 2006. Thats an unusually large drop, Plant says.
While the team cant be sure their results are due solely to Obama, they also showed that those with the lowest bias were likely to subconsciously associate black skin colour with political words such as government or president. This suggests that Obama was strongly on their mind, says Plant.
【英语六级考试快读阅读练习及答案(16)】相关文章:
最新
2016-10-18
2016-10-11
2016-10-11
2016-10-08
2016-09-30
2016-09-30