Race-Based Beliefs About the Prototypical American and its Behavioral Consequences

Yogeeswaran, Kumar

Publication:
Race-Based Beliefs About the Prototypical American and its Behavioral Consequences

dc.contributor.advisor	Nilanjana Dasgupta
dc.contributor.author	Yogeeswaran, Kumar
dc.contributor.department	University of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.contributor.department	Psychology
dc.date	2023-09-22T19:57:05.000
dc.date.accessioned	2024-04-26T21:08:35Z
dc.date.available	2024-04-26T21:08:35Z
dc.date.issued	2009-01-01
dc.date.submitted	2009-May
dc.description.abstract	Although the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants American citizenship to any person born or naturalized in this country, subjective perceptions of who belongs in the country are driven by default assumptions that the prototypical American is White. This belief that Whites are somehow more American than members of other ethnic groups lies in sharp contrast to the widespread endorsement of multiculturalism in everyday life. Two studies provide evidence that these race-based beliefs about the prototypical American can produce discriminatory behavior against ethnic minorities in domains where patriotism is relevant, but not in domains where patriotism is irrelevant. Study 1 demonstrated that the more participants believe that the prototypical American is White, the less willing they are to hire highly qualified Asian Americans in national security jobs where patriotism is essential. Additionally, this effect was partially mediated by doubts about Asian Americans’ loyalty to thee country. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings by demonstrating that the more participants believe that the prototypical American is White, the less willing they are to hire highly qualified Asian Americans in national security jobs, but not in private business jobs where patriotism is irrelevant. Together, these studies demonstrate how race-based beliefs about the prototypical American can lead to discriminatory behavior against ethnic minorities, particularly in domains where national loyalty is important.
dc.description.degree	Master of Science (M.S.)
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.7275/813946
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/47252
dc.relation.url	https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1341&context=theses&unstamped=1
dc.source.status	published
dc.subject	Social psychology
dc.subject	Nationality
dc.subject	Discrimination
dc.subject	Implicit social cognition
dc.subject	Multiculturalism
dc.subject	Prototypes
dc.subject	American identity
dc.subject	Social Psychology
dc.title	Race-Based Beliefs About the Prototypical American and its Behavioral Consequences
dc.type	campus
dc.type	article
dc.type	thesis
digcom.contributor.author	isAuthorOfPublication\|email:kumar.yogeeswaran@canterbury.ac.nz\|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst\|Yogeeswaran, Kumar
digcom.identifier	theses/374
digcom.identifier.contextkey	813946
digcom.identifier.submissionpath	theses/374
dspace.entity.type	Publication