Racial Bias, Unspoken But Heard
John F. DovidioNonverbal behavior is a powerful form of social influence. People can abstract accurate meaning from even very brief exposures to nonverbal behavior—a facial expression or subtle body language, for example (1). Across cultures, the ability to understand nonverbal messages occurs quickly; even infants and toddlers demonstrate this capacity. Moreover, nonverbal signals can be especially effective in transmitting social attitudes because they can be spontaneously understood with minimal effort and are perceived as a source of valid information. On page 1711 of this issue, Weisbuch et al. (2) examine how racial prejudice can be covertly spread and reinforced, and propose that in American society, negative nonverbal behavior modeled by white individuals in popular media critically shapes white viewers' orientations toward black individuals [see (3) for how race was determined in the study].
Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520–8205, USA.
The Subtle Transmission of Race Bias via Televised Nonverbal Behavior
Max Weisbuch,* Kristin Pauker, Nalini Ambady*Compared with more explicit racial slurs and statements, biased facial expressions and body language may resist conscious identification and thus produce a hidden social influence. In four studies, we show that race biases can be subtly transmitted via televised nonverbal behavior. Characters on 11 popular television shows exhibited more negative nonverbal behavior toward black than toward status-matched white characters. Critically, exposure to prowhite (versus problack) nonverbal bias increased viewers’ bias even though patterns of nonverbal behavior could not be consciously reported. These findings suggest that hidden patterns of televised nonverbal behavior influence bias among viewers.
Department of Psychology, Tufts University, 490 Boston Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/326/5960/1641?rss=1&ssource=mfc