Moving While Black: Intergroup Attitudes Influence Judgments of Speed

Abstract

Four experiments examined whether intergroup attitudes shape the speed with which Blacks are thought to be moving. When participants rated the speed of Black and White faces that appeared to be moving toward them, greater intergroup anxiety was associated with judging Black targets as moving more slowly relative to White targets (Experiments 1a and 1b). Experiment 2 demonstrated that this effect occurs only for approaching targets. Experiment 3 showed that this slowing bias occurs, at least in part, because of the perceived duration of time each image was moving. Such a slowing bias is consistent with the time expansion and perceptual slowing reported by people who experienced threatening events.

Publisher

American Psychological Association

Publication Date

2-1-2016

Publication Title

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

Department

Psychology

Document Type

Article

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/xge0000115

Keywords

Prejudice, Motion perception, Intergroup dynamics

Language

English

Format

text

Link to Full Text

Share

COinS