Skip to main content

Faculty & Research

Close

Prototypes of Discrimination: How Status Asymmetry and Stereotype Asymmetry Affect Judgments of Racial Discrimination

Journal Article
The present research investigated the status asymmetry and stereotype asymmetry features of the discrimination prototype. Consistent with status asymmetry predictions, Black observers’ made greater attributions to discrimination when the victim was Black and the perpetrator was White than when the roles were reversed. In contrast, White observers made similar attributions to discrimination, regardless of status asymmetry. In partial support of the stereotype asymmetry hypothesis, both Black and White observers made greater attributions to discrimination for Black victims in a domain where Blacks were negatively stereotyped than positively stereotyped. However, attributions to discrimination for White victims were unaffected by the domain.