Danger or Dislike: Distinguishing Threat From Negative Valence as Sources of Automatic Anti-Black Bias

The Dual Implicit Process Model (March et al., 2018b) distinguishes the implicit processing of physical threat (i.e., Can it hurt or kill me?) from valence (i.e., Do I dislike/like it?). Five studies tested whether automatic anti-Black bias is due to White Americans associating Black men with threat, negative valence, or both. Studies 1 and 2 assessed how quickly White participants decided whether positive, negative, and threatening images were good versus bad when primed by Black versus White male-faces. Studies 3 and 4 assessed how early in the decision process White participants began deciding whether Black and White (and, in Study 3, Asian) male-faces displaying anger, sadness, happiness, or no emotion were, in Study 3, dangerous, depressed, cheerful, or calm or, in Study 4, dangerous, negative, or positive. Study 5 assessed how quickly White participants decided whether negative and threatening words were negative versus dangerous when primed by Black versus White male-names. All studies indicated that White Americans automatically associate Black men with physical threat. Study 3 indicated the association is unique to Black men and did not extend to Asian men as a general intergroup effect. Studies 3, 4, and 5, which simultaneously paired threat against negativity, indicated that the Black-threat association is stronger than a Black-negative association.

Automated summary

The study demonstrates that White Americans automatically associate Black men with physical threat, and this association is stronger than the association with negativity. This association is unique to Black men and does not extend to Asian men as a general intergroup effect.