Can the News Influence Our Implicit Prejudice?

Chapter 11. Can the News Influence Our Implicit Prejudice?

Introduction

Chapter 4

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You must read each slide, and complete any questions on the slide, in sequence.

Nonexperimental Design

A design in which there is no control or manipulation of the variables. This design does not seek to establish cause and effect and instead focuses on describing or summarizing what takes place.

Experimental Design

A design in which the experimenter controls and manipulates the independent variable and makes comparisons between the different levels, allowing the establishment of cause-and-effect relationships between the independent and dependent variables.

Independent Variable (IV)

The variable that influences the dependent variable. In experiments the researcher manipulates or controls this variable.

Dependent Variable (DV)

The variable measured in association with changes in the independent variable; the outcome or effect.

Factorial Design

An experimental design that has more than one independent variable.

Experimental Realism

The degree to which a study participant becomes engrossed in the manipulation and truly influenced by it.

Mundane Realism

The degree to which a study parallels everyday situations in the real world.

Reliability

The stability or consistency of a measure.

Validity

The degree to which a tool measures what it claims to measure.

Sensitivity

The range of data a researcher can gather from a particular instrument.

Main Effect Hypothesis

A prediction that focuses on one independent variable at a time, ignoring all other independent variables.

Interaction Effect Hypothesis

A prediction about how the levels of one independent variable will combine with another independent variable to impact the dependent variable in a way that extends beyond the sum of the two separate main effects.

IRB

A board that reviews the ethical merit of all the human research conducted within an institution.

Descriptive

Describes what is happening.

Inferential

Tests a specific prediction about why something occurs.

Factorial Design

This activity will allow you to create a design to test the combined effect of 2 variables—the type of crimes and the race of the suspects—on racial prejudices.

Dr. Melanie Maggard

Dr. Natalie J. Ciarocco, Monmouth University

Dr. David B. Strohmetz, Monmouth University

Dr. Gary W. Lewandowski, Jr., Monmouth University

Something to Think About...

Scenario: Although progress has been made since the 1960s Civil Rights Movement, racism still exists in today’s society, often in ways that are not easily recognizable. Racial prejudice affects all of us and is influenced by a combination of learned experiences, environment, parenting, and more. No single event is responsible for creating our racial prejudice; rather, prejudice is the result of multiple factors.

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Something to Think About…

Racial prejudices are evident in a wide variety of settings, including in the context of how we view those who have committed crimes. Is it possible that we judge African Americans differently than European Americans in these situations? Do our views make us more likely to believe that punishment for certain types of people should be harsher? Does the type of crime committed—such as a “white-collar” crime like embezzlement vs. a “blue-collar” crime like robbery—also contribute to our beliefs?

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Our Research Question

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With these questions in mind, we will develop a research study that examines types of crimes, races of suspects, and racial prejudice. But first, you will need a framework to help you explore this topic. Research studies all start with a question, so here is your chance to ask one of your own.

Question 11.1

Which of the following research questions would be best to ask given the goal of our study?

How do the type of crime and race of the suspect influence racial prejudice?

Do people have prejudices against various races?

Does racial prejudice impact the type of crime and race of the suspect?

Correct.

Try again.

Incorrect.

Picking the Best Design

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Now that you have a research question (“How do the type of crime and race of the suspect influence racial prejudice?”), you must decide which type of research design will best answer your research question. To narrow things down, consider the following:

Nonexperimental Design
Experimental Design

Question

Does your research question require a nonexperimental design or an experimental design?

Nonexperimental

Experimental

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Picking the Best Design

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Having decided that your research question requires a comparison between groups, you must determine the best comparison to make. However, there are multiple comparisons to be made: between types of crime and races of suspects.

Question

Given the research question (“How do the type of crime and race of the suspect influence racial prejudice?”), which of the following would be best to use for the type of crime comparison?

Robbery vs. Murder

Embezzlement vs. Robbery

Embezzlement vs. Robbery vs. Murder

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Picking the Best Design

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Question

Given the research question (“How do the type of crime and race of the suspect influence racial prejudice?”), which of the following would be best to use for the race of the suspect comparison?

European-American vs. African-American

European-American vs. Non-European-American

European-American vs. Non-European-American vs. African-American

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Picking the Best Design

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Now that you have selected experimental design that compares exposure to embezzlement vs. robbery and a European-American vs. African-American suspect on racial prejudices, you can identify your independent and dependent variables.

Independent Variable (IV)
Dependent Variable (DV)

Question

Given the research question (“How do the type of crime and race of the suspect influence racial prejudice?”), what are your independent variables?

Type of crime and racial prejudice

Race of suspect and racial prejudice

Type of crime and race of suspect

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Picking the Best Design

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Question

Given the research question (“How do the type of crime and race of the suspect influence racial prejudice?”), what is your dependent variable?

Guilt of suspect

Racial prejudice

Race of participant

Correct.

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Picking the Best Design

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You have developed an experiment with 2 independent variables (type of crime and race of suspect) and 1 dependent variable (racial prejudice). This means we have a factorial design.

Factorial Design

Question

Based on your research question (“How do the type of crime and race of the suspect influence racial prejudice?”) and the variables in this study, what is the anatomy of this factorial design?

2 x 1

2 x 2

2 x 2 x 1

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Operationally Defining the Independent Variables

Next, we need to operationally define the first independent variable (IV), type of crime, by determining exactly how we will manipulate it. As we do, we’ll want to be sure our study has a high level of experimental and mundane realism.

Experimental Realism
Mundane Realism

Question

Which of the following study options has the highest level of experimental realism?

Participants will read a national news poll about the rates of embezzlement or robbery in each state.

Participants will create a local news event about a specific crime, either embezzlement or robbery, involving the stealing of $100.

Participants will read a local news event about a specific crime, either embezzlement or robbery, involving the stealing of $5,000.

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Operationally Defining the Independent Variables

Question

Which of the following study options has the highest level of mundane realism in regard to type of crime?

Participants will read a national news poll about the rates of embezzlement or robbery in each state.

Participants will read a local news event about a specific crime, either embezzlement or robbery, involving the stealing of $5,000.

Participants will create a local news event about a specific crime, either embezzlement or robbery, involving the stealing of $100.

Correct.

Try again.

Incorrect.

Operationally Defining the Independent Variables

Now we need to operationally define the second independent variable (IV), race of suspect, by determining exactly how we will manipulate it. As we do, we’ll want to be sure our study has a high level of experimental and mundane realism.

Experimental Realism
Mundane Realism

Question

Which of the following study options has the highest level of experimental realism?

Participants will read a national news poll about the number of European-Americans and African-Americans who have committed crimes in each state.

Participants will read a local news event about a specific crime with the race of the suspect (European-American or African-American) identified.

Participants will guess the race of a suspect (European-American or African-American) attached to a specific crime.

Correct.

Try again.

Incorrect.

Operationally Defining the Independent Variables

Question

Which of the following study options has the highest level of mundane realism in regard to type of crime?

Participants will read a local news event about a specific crime with the race of the suspect (European-American or African-American) identified.

Participants will read a national news poll about the number of European-Americans and African-Americans who have committed crimes in each state.

Participants will guess the race of a suspect (European-American or African-American) attached to a specific crime.

Correct.

Try again.

Incorrect.

Operationally Defining the Independent Variables

Of the options you explored, the task that is highest in experimental and mundane realism involves reading a local news event about a specific crime (embezzlement or robbery) involving $5,000, with the race of the suspect (European-American or African-American) identified. Because participants may figure out the intention of our study if they are exposed to multiple news stories, each participant will only be exposed to 1 condition, or combination, of our independent variables.

Question

Which of the following demonstrates all of the potential combinations of the independent variables in this factorial design?

Embezzlement + Robbery, European-American + African-American

Embezzlement + European-American, Robbery + African-American

Embezzlement + European-American, Embezzlement + African-American, Robbery + European-American, Robbery + African-American

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Operationally Defining the Independent Variables

The following table illustrates the 4 combinations in our 2 x 2 factorial design, where each person will be assigned to 1 of these conditions:

A: Embezzlement + European-American
B: Embezzlement + African-American
C: Robbery + European-American
D: Robbery + African-American

Summary of Our Factorial Study
		Race of Suspect
		European-American	African-American
Type of Crime	Embezzlement	A	B
Type of Crime	Robbery	C	D

Operationally Defining the Dependent Variable

You have now established the key comparisons between the 4 groups as variations of the type of crime and race of the suspect. Next, we need to specify the exact nature of our dependent variable, racial prejudice. First, consider the following:

Question

Which type of measure is better for assessing racial prejudice?

Self-report Measure

Behavioral Measure

Correct.

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Choosing the Best Measure

We know we want to use a behavioral measure to measure racial prejudice. Now it is time to determine which type of behavioral measure to use. Keep in mind how many and what types of questions, reliability, validity, and sensitivity would be appropriate for our study.

Reliability
Validity
Sensitivity

Question

Which of the following would be the best behavioral measure of racial prejudice in this study?

Symbolic Racism 2000 Scale (SRS, 2002): 8 items focusing on agreement with and preferences for various racial policies, with acceptable levels of reliability and validity and a score that remains stable over time.

Years of Prison: After reading about the type of crime and race of the person who committed it, the participant reports how many years of imprisonment (0–15) the guilty party should be sentenced to.

Race Implicit Association Test (IAT, 1998): A series of tasks that measures the time it takes to link items together based on race and categories (e.g., good, bad) to measure unconscious prejudices; has acceptable levels of reliability and validity and can change associations temporarily.

Correct.

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Determining Your Hypotheses

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Now that you have determined what you will manipulate and measure, you must formulate an experimental hypothesis. Because we have multiple independent variables, we will also need multiple hypotheses: main effect hypotheses and interaction effect hypotheses.

Main Effect Hypothesis
Interaction Effect Hypothesis

Question

Given the nature of your study, which of the following is the best experimental hypothesis for the main effect of type of crime?

Those who read the robbery news event will display higher racial prejudice by recommending longer prison sentences than those who read the embezzlement news event.

Robbery leads to higher scores than embezzlement.

When the suspect of the crime is African-American, those who read the robbery news event will display higher racial prejudice by recommending longer prison sentences than those who read the embezzlement news event.

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Determining Your Hypotheses

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Question

Given the nature of your study, which of the following is the best experimental hypothesis for the main effect of race of suspect?

Those who read the robbery news event with an African-American suspect will display higher racial prejudice by recommending longer prison sentences than those who read the embezzlement news event with a European-American suspect.

African-American crime suspects have higher scores of racial prejudice through longer prison sentences than European-American crime suspects.

Those who read the news event with an African-American suspect will display higher racial prejudice by recommending longer prison sentences than those who read the news event with a European-American suspect.

Correct.

Try again.

Incorrect.

Determining Your Hypotheses

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Now that we have our main effect hypotheses, we must create the interaction effect hypothesis.

Question

Which of the following is the best experimental hypothesis for the interaction effect of type of crime and race of suspect?

The impact of the suspect’s race on type of crime will be greater for those in the Robbery + African-American and Embezzlement + European-American conditions than Robbery + European-American and Embezzlement + African-American conditions, as shown by the longer recommended prison sentences.

Those who read the robbery news event will display lower racial prejudice, as shown by their recommendations for shorter prison sentences than those who read the embezzlement news event when the suspect of the crime is African-American.

The impact of the type of crime on suspect’s race will be greater for those in the Robbery conditions than those in the European-American conditions.

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Finding a Sample

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Before you can conduct your experiment, you need to determine exactly whom you want to study and where you can find this target sample.

Question

Which of the following samples would be best for your experiment?

A national random sample of news readers

A random sample of African-American college students

A random sample of adults in a racially diverse city

Correct.

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Submitting to the IRB

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Now that you have determined how you will collect your data and your intended sample, you must submit your research procedure to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for ethical approval. The IRB or ethics board will determine whether or not your study meets all ethical guidelines.

Each IRB has its own protocol that conforms to the national standard when a researcher submits an application for proposed research to be reviewed. In addition to the appropriate paperwork and other information submitted to the IRB, the board would consider the following description during their evaluation of your proposed experiment:

The purpose of this research is to determine whether there is an interaction effect of type of crime (embezzlement or robbery) and race of suspect (European-American or African-American) on racial prejudice. To study this topic, invitations to participate will be mailed to a random sampling of adults in the city. Participants will be told that the study is about current news events and offered $10 for their participation. Those who volunteer will provide informed consent before being randomly assigned to 1 of 4 conditions: Embezzlement + European-American, Embezzlement + African-American, Robbery + European-American, or Robbery + African-American. So that we may measure their racial prejudice, participants will read a news event based on the condition to which they are assigned and then determine the number of years in prison the suspect should receive.

Responding to the IRB

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The IRB reviewed your submission and has 1 concern. The study involves deception, which carries the potential risk of temporary psychological distress based on whether a participant’s racial prejudice via the prison sentence they provide matches what they believe about themselves.

You must now determine how to respond to the IRB, keeping in mind the ethics of deception.

Question

Which of the following is the best response to the IRB’s concern?

You respond by telling the IRB that you will not provide an incentive for participation so individuals do not feel compelled to participate in the deception.

You respond by acknowledging that a debriefing script will be used at the end of the study to divulge the true intention of the study: that the news events were created for the purpose of testing the impact of the information provided on racial prejudices. The participants will also be told that the prison sentence estimate used to measure racial prejudice does not imply that an individual is racist or acts in a way that supports racial discrimination.

You respond by acknowledging that the deception is necessary and by giving informed consent the participants are agreeing to the use of deception.

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Running the Study

chapter_11_multiple_choice

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Now that we have secured the IRB’s approval, we should determine what the entire study will look like. Below are the steps of the study; can you place them in the proper order?

Debrief the participants.

Participants record the number of years in prison they believe the suspect should receive for the crime.

Randomly assign participants to 1 of the 4 conditions.

Obtain informed consent.

Participants read the local news events based on the condition to which they are assigned.

Give participants instructions for the article and recording of the prison sentence.

Collecting Data

Now that you have a sense of how to conduct this study, it is time to see what data from this study might look like.

If you were to run a full version of this study, you would want to have at least 30 participants in each of your 4 groups, for a total of 120 participants. Because you are using a between-subjects design, each participant will only be in 1 group.

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Example Data Set

This is an example of what your data set would look like. The top row shows the variable names; the other rows display the data for the first 5 participants in each crime condition.

In the “Crime” column, a 1 = Embezzlement, and a 2 = Robbery. In the “Race” column, a 1 = European-American, and a 2 = African-American. The number of years in prison was recorded under Years, with possible scores ranging from 0 to 15 years.

Participant Number	Crime	Race	Years
101	1	1	5
102	1	1	2
103	1	1	2
104	1	1	5
105	1	1	5
161	2	1	6
162	2	1	4
163	2	1	5
164	2	1	5
165	2	1	5

Selecting the Proper Tool

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Now that you have collected your data, you must decide the best way to summarize your findings. The decisions you made about how to collect your data dictate the statistics you can use with your data now. First, you need to consider if your study is descriptive or inferential.

Descriptive
Inferential

Question

Given the nature of your experiment, which of the following is the best statistical method?

Descriptive statistics

Inferential statistics

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Tutorial: Evaluating Output

chapter_11_table_activity_1

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The following is an example of output for another two-way ANOVA where participants experienced only 1 condition in the study. This study was about how number of hours of television per night (1 hour or 4 hours) for a week and gender (male or female) influence self-reported happiness.

Click on the table below to learn more about each element of the output.

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Dependent Variable: Happiness
Source	Type III Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.	Partial Eta Squared
Corrected Model	92.833^a	3	30.944	120.996	.000	.758
Intercept	1267.500	1	1267.500	4956.067	.000	.977
TV	76.800	1	76.800	300.297	.000	.721
Gender	8.533	1	8.533	33.366	.000	.223
TV * Gender	7.500	1	7.500	29.326	.000	.202
Error	29.667	116	.256
Total	1390.000	120
Corrected Total	122.500	119
a. R Squared = .758 (Adjusted R Squared = .752)

Tutorial: Evaluating Output

chapter_11_table_activity_2

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To report these numbers in a results section, put the numbers in as follows:

F (#,#) = #.##, p = .##, eta² = .##.

This should be done for each main effect and the interaction.

Click on the table below to learn more about each element of the output.

Descriptive Statistics
Dependent Variable: Happiness
TV	Gender	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
1 Hour	Male	3.53	.507	30
	Female	4.57	.504	30
	Total	4.05	.723	60
4 Hours	Male	2.43	.504	30
	Female	2.47	.507	30
	Total	2.45	.502	60
Total	Male	2.98	.748	60
	Female	3.52	1.172	60
	Total	3.25	1.015	120

Tutorial: Evaluating Output

chapter_11_graph

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This graph shows us that females had higher happiness ratings when only 1 hour of TV was watched, but this difference went away when they were exposed to 4 hours of TV. Also, both males and females had lower ratings of happiness after 4 hours of TV than 1 hour of TV. There was an interaction between gender and hours of TV as the happiness ratings differed based on these variables.

Happiness

Hours of TV

Your Turn: Evaluating Output

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Below is the output from your study:

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Dependent Variable: Years
Source	Type III Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.	Partial Eta Squared
Corrected Model	345.292^a	3	115.097	107.933	.000	.736
Intercept	3424.008	1	3424.008	3210.873	.000	.965
Crime	200.208	1	200.208	187.746	.000	.618
Race	118.008	1	118.008	110.663	.000	.488
Crime * Race	27.075	1	27.075	25.390	.000	.180
Error	123.700	116	1.066
Total	3893.000	120
Corrected Total	468.992	119
a. R Squared = .736 (Adjusted R Squared = .729)

Your Turn: Evaluating Output

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Below is the output from your study:

Descriptive Statistics
Dependent Variable: Years
Crime	Race	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
Embezzlement	European-American	3.53	1.224	30
	African-American	4.57	1.104	30
	Total	4.05	1.268	60
Robbery	European-American	5.17	.834	30
	African-American	8.10	.923	30
	Total	6.63	1.717	60
Total	European-American	4.35	1.325	60
	African-American	6.33	2.047	60
	Total	5.34	1.985	120

Your Turn: Evaluating Output

chapter_11_multiple_choice_2

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Based on the results of your statistical analyses, match the correct number in the “Answer” column to the term requested under “Prompt”:

Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Dependent Variable: Years
Source	Type III Sum of Squares	df	Mean Square	F	Sig.	Partial Eta Squared
Corrected Model	345.292^a	3	115.097	107.933	.000	.736
Intercept	3424.008	1	3424.008	3210.873	.000	.965
Crime	200.208	1	200.208	187.746	.000	.618
Race	118.008	1	118.008	110.663	.000	.488
Crime * Race	27.075	1	27.075	25.390	.000	.180
Error	123.700	116	1.066
Total	3893.000	120
Corrected Total	468.992	119
a. R Squared = .736 (Adjusted R Squared = .729)

F for the ANOVA test – main effect of crime

p for the ANOVA test – main effect of crime

F for the ANOVA test – main effect of race

p for the ANOVA test – main effect of race

F for the ANOVA test – interaction effect

p for the ANOVA test – interaction effect

eta² – main effect of crime

eta² – main effect of race

eta² – interaction effect

Please move the correct answer to the left.

0.000

0.488

0.180

0.000

110.663

0.618

187.746

25.390

Activity: Graphing Results

chapter_11_graph_2

By pulling the top of the bar graph, please indicate the mean for each race.

Descriptive Statistics
Dependent Variable: Years
Crime	Race	Mean	Std. Deviation	N
Embezzlement	European-American	3.53	1.224	30
	African-American	4.57	1.104	30
	Total	4.05	1.268	60
Robbery	European-American	5.17	.834	30
	African-American	8.10	.923	30
	Total	6.63	1.717	60
Total	European-American	4.35	1.325	60
	African-American	6.33	2.047	60
	Total	5.34	1.985	120

Type of Crime & Race

Mean Years Prison

Type of Crime

Your Turn: Results

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Now that you have worked with your data, you must determine the best way to express your findings in written form. You must be sure that how you describe your findings accurately represents the data.

Question

Based on the statistical analysis, which of the following results sections best fits the data and analyses from your study?

Contrary to your hypotheses, embezzlement (M = 6.63) received longer prison sentences than robbery (M = 4.05), and European-American suspects (M = 6.33) received longer prison sentences than African-American suspects (M = 4.35).

As hypothesized, robbery (M = 6.63) received longer prison sentences than embezzlement (M = 4.05), African-American suspects (M = 6.33) received longer prison sentences than European-American suspects (M = 4.35), and stereotyped crimes (Robbery + African-American, Embezzlement + European-American) had longer prison sentences than those that were not stereotyped crimes (Robbery + European-American, Embezzlement + African-American).

As hypothesized, robbery (M = 6.63) received longer prison sentences than embezzlement (M = 4.05), and African-American suspects (M = 6.33) received longer prison sentences than European-American suspects (M = 4.35). However, contrary to our hypothesis, both stereotyped crimes (Robbery + African-American, Embezzlement + European-American) did not have longer prison sentences than both of those that were not stereotyped crimes (Robbery + European-American, Embezzlement + African-American).

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Take Home Message

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Now that you have determined how to express your findings in a scientifically responsible way, you also need to be able to talk about what your findings mean in everyday terms so that the world can benefit from your science.

Question

How would you explain what you found about racial prejudice, expressed as recommended years of prison sentence, for people who read crime news articles with the suspect’s race provided? Select the best option.

Criminals who want to receive fewer years in prison should commit embezzlement instead of robbery.

Regardless of the suspect’s race, those who committed embezzlement received longer prison sentences.

European-American suspects tend to be judged more harshly, as shown through longer recommended prison sentences, than African-American suspects, regardless of whether the crime is embezzlement or robbery.

African-American suspects tend to be judged more harshly, as shown through longer recommended prison sentences, than European-American suspects, regardless of whether the crime is embezzlement or robbery.

Correct.

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Incorrect.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed this activity.

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Participant Number	Crime	Race	Years
101	1	1	5
102	1	1	2
103	1	1	2
104	1	1	5
105	1	1	5
161	2	1	6
162	2	1	4
163	2	1	5
164	2	1	5
165	2	1	5

Participant Number	Crime	Race	Years
101	1	1	5
102	1	1	2
103	1	1	2
104	1	1	5
105	1	1	5
161	2	1	6
162	2	1	4
163	2	1	5
164	2	1	5
165	2	1	5

Participant Number	Crime	Race	Years
101	1	1	5
102	1	1	2
103	1	1	2
104	1	1	5
105	1	1	5
161	2	1	6
162	2	1	4
163	2	1	5
164	2	1	5
165	2	1	5