Variability in automatic activation as an unobstrusive measure of racial attitudes: A bona fide pipeline?

TLDR

The study investigates an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes derived from automatic memory activations when viewing Black versus White faces, and examines its lack of correspondence with Modern Racism Scale scores. It employs automatic activation of evaluations elicited by Black versus White face presentations as an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes. The measure produced distinct attitude estimates for Black and White participants, predicted race‑related judgments and behavior among White participants, was reactive to the Modern Racism Scale, and interacted with individual motivation to control prejudice when predicting MRS scores, underscoring both automatic and controlled components of racial prejudice.

Abstract

The research examines an unobtrusive measure of racial attitudes based on the evaluations that are automatically activated from memory on the presentation of Black versus White faces. Study 1, which concerned the technique's validity, obtained different attitude estimates for Black and White participants and also revealed that the variability among White participants was predictive of other race-related judgments and behavior. Study 2 concerned the lack of correspondence between the unobtrusive estimates and Modern Racism Scale (MRS) scores. The reactivity of the MRS was demonstrated in Study 3. Study 4 observed an interaction between the unobtrusive estimates and an individual difference in motivation to control prejudiced reactions when predicting MRS scores. The theoretical implications of the findings for consideration of automatic and controlled components of racial prejudice are discussed, as is the status of the MRS.