Exploring the Role of Social Context and Individual Differences in Hypodescent

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The purpose of this study is to establish the function of social context and individual differences in hypodescent, the system of allocating multiracial the status of their relatively underprivileged parent group. The Key theory highlighted in this study is social dominance orientation (SDO). The theory predicts a broad range of intergroup experiences, varying from support for aggression against low-status groups to opposition to social policies that might lead to higher equality. Social dominance moves may be stimulated by circumstances where the hierarchy is considered unstable. For example, the views that immigrants were attempting to assimilate into the American mainstream; hence, trespassing current group boundaries results in high SDO in Americans to facilitate immigrant persecution. The views of intergroup threat resulted in people high in SDO-sanctioning colorblind concept versions that might substantially confirm the status quo. The key hypothesis of this paper is that social context and individual differences interact to control how we classify biracially. The study comprised two samples where sample one involved 163 White Americans who were recruited via MTurk of Amazon for experiment one while 57 White Americans were obtained through a similar approach.

The study adopted a quantitative research design using two experiments and involved White Americans in the United States (US). The participants were exposed to concepts proposing that black Americans depict an increasing socioeconomic threat in the first experiment 1. After the measure of SDO, respondents showed if they believed that half-Whites, half-Blacks biracial targets were relatively White, Black, or equally White and Black on a 7-point scale. In the second experiment, the study allocated a realistic threat circumstance where they exposed the participants to a vignette proposing that black Americans depict an increasing socioeconomic threat or to a circumstance that proposed no progress in the Black Americans’ status. Study results revealed that individual differences in SDO interact with views of socioeconomic threat to support the utilization of hypodescent in classifying half-White, and half-Black biracial targets. The implication of the research question is the principle of hypodescent is applied to impose group boundaries. This support the position that hypodescent is hierarchy-supporting social classification.

Chen, J. M., & Hamilton, D. L. (2012). Natural ambiguities: Racial categorization of multiracial individuals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 152-164. Web.

The authors, Chen and Hamilton, examined the process of classifying multiracial persons. The study hypothesized that people could make fewer multiracial classifications of multiracial and these classifications would assume the monoracial classifications. The study adopted experiments as a research design. The study results revealed that perceivers did not classify morphed Black-White appearances as multiracial with similar occurrences where they classified White and Black faces as White and Black respectively. Experiment 2 expanded the influence to real White-Black appearances. Experiment 3 revealed that the results generalized Asian-White appearances. The image assessment revealed that the real biracial and Black-White morphs were less varied than either the White or Black set of faces. The implications of the results for comprehending views of multiracial individuals are explained.

Ho, A. K., Kteily, N. S., & Chen, J. M. (2017). “You’re one of us”: Black Americans’ use of hypodescent and its association with egalitarianism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(5), 753-768. Web.

The authors have analyzed whether individuals of an ethnic minority group, African Americans also relate White-Black multiracial more with their majority versus minority parent group. The study adopted a quantitative research design and involved a sample of US-born Whites and US-born African Americans. The study showed that the egalitarians African Americans utilized hypodescent in part as they view that Black-White biracial experienced discrimination and felt a sense of connected fate with them. The study established that the utilization of hypodescent includes the minority and majority perceivers even though reveals that the beliefs related to the utilization of hypodescent differ as a principle of perceived social status.

Ho, A. K., Sidanius, J., Cuddy, A. J., & Banaji, M. R. (2013). Status boundary enforcement and the categorization of black-white biracial. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49, 49(2013), 940–943.

The paper examines the function of social context and individual differences in hypodescent. The authors adopted a quantitative research approach and involved White Americans. The paper has shown that social context and individual differences interact to support how people categorize biracially. The study results revealed further that the principle of hypodescent is applied to impose group boundaries. The anti-egalitarians are depicted to be strategically involved in the hierarchy maintenance of social classification.

Pauker, K., Weisbuch, M., Ambady, N., Sommers, S. R., Adams, R. B., & Ivcevic, Z. (2009). Not so black and white: Memory for ambiguous group members. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(4), 795-810. Web.

The authors conducted a study to investigate how perceivers address this dilemma with consideration of their own-race prejudice. They assumed that perceivers are not inspired to include ambiguous-race people in the in-group; thus, have some challenges remembering these people. The study adopted a quantitative research approach and involved prototype faces of blacks and whites. The study results revealed that racial labels allocated to racially ambiguous appearances determined memory for the appearances, recommending that uncertainty offers the inspirational context for discounting ambiguous appearances in memory. Hence, memory for biracial people appears to engage a flexible individual construal system fashioned by inspirational aspects.

Sanchez, D. T., Good, J. J., & Chavez, G. (2010). Blood quantum and perceptions of Black-white Biracial targets: The Black ancestry prototype model of affirmative action. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(1), 3-14. Web.

The authors analyzed the causal function of the amount of African American ancestry in the perceived fit of targets with black American prototypes and the classification of perceivers of biracial targets. African American ancestry improved the possibility that perceivers classified biracial targets as African American and perceived targets to fit black prototypes. The authors’ results revealed consistent, controlling views of phenotype that emanate from ancestral information. The beliefs of perceivers concerning the self-categorization of the targets forecasted traits perceptions. The study results supported the ancestral origin of the black prototype theory of affirmative action that depicts the downstream implications of African American ancestry for the minority resources distribution to biracial targets.

References

Barn Chen, J. M., & Hamilton, D. L. (2012). Natural ambiguities: Racial categorization of multiracial individuals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(1), 152-164. Web.

Ho, A. K., Sidanius, J., Cuddy, A. J., & Banaji, M. R. (2013). Status boundary enforcement and the categorization of black–white biracials. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49, 49(2013), 940–943.