Keywords

racism, perceptions of racism, ethnicity, ethnic issues, race relations, perceptions

Abstract

The present study used a mixed-experimental analog design to examine 858 undergraduate students' reactions to a scenario depicting a store clerk being mildly rude to a customer. The ethnicity of the clerk and customer were manipulated. Results indicated that participants' beliefs regarding the general prevalence of racism and the degree to which they identify with their respective ethnic group significantly predicted the extent to which they perceived the clerk's behavior as being racially motivated. It also was found that participants' beliefs regarding the general prevalence of racism, levels of cynicism, and attributional style significantly predicted the extent to which they perceived the clerk's behavior as unjust. Moreover, participants' beliefs regarding the general prevalence of racism, levels of cynicism, self-esteem, and symptoms of depression significantly predicted the extent to which they considered the clerk's behavior as a common occurrence. Finally, participants judged the clerk's behavior to be significantly more racially motivated when the clerk was White and the customer was Hispanic or African American than when the clerk was Hispanic or African American and the customer was White. This last finding was robust for White, Latino and African American participants. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Notes

If this is your thesis or dissertation, and want to learn how to access it or for more information about readership statistics, contact us at STARS@ucf.edu

Graduation Date

2006

Semester

Spring

Advisor

Negy, Charles

Degree

Master of Science (M.S.)

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Psychology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0000932

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0000932

Language

English

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Masters Thesis (Open Access)

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS