Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Automatic Activation of Yellow Peril Asian American Stereotypes: Effects on Social Impression Formation

2003; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 143; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00224540309600425

1940-1183

José Maria de Castro Abreu, Estrella Aurora Ramirez, Bryan S. K. Kim, Chris Haddy,

Media Influence and Health

Abstract The authors randomly assigned 69 undergraduates to 1 of 2 perceptual priming conditions involving 80-ms flash words presented on a computer screen to activate information processing outside of conscious awareness. In the high-prime condition, the authors exposed participants to stereotype words associated with the Yellow Peril view of Asian Americans. The authors exposed participants in a low-prime condition to neutral words. All participants then read a vignette and evaluated its protagonist on several social dimensions. Results indicated that the priming procedure effectively biased participant evaluation of the vignette target, but only on items closely linked to Asian Americans. Contrary to predictions, however, participants in the high-prime group rated the target less Asian than did their low-prime group counterparts, an apparent reversal of the expected priming effect. The authors discussed theoretical implications.