Affects of Race in Ambiguous Situations Jordon Epps, Suhanya Erne, Natasha Owen, Gizelle Torres California State University, Northridge Presented: 2005 PSI CHI Research Competition

Introduction Past Research Hurricane Katrina Mary-Beth, Oliver, and Dana (2002) Hugenberg and Bodenhausen (2004)

Introduction Past Research Hurricane Katrina Different captions on pictures with identical situations

Introduction Past Research Mary-Beth, Oliver, and Dana (2002) Differences in White participants’ identification and misidentification of Black and White criminals

Introduction Past Research Hugenberg and Bodenhausen (2004) Hostility towards facial expressions of African Americans and Caucasians—more hostility towards African Americans

Hypothesis We hypothesized that ethnicity and cultural influences affects the interpretation of a person in either a positive or negative way.

Method Participants CSUN Human Subject Pool 101 Participants 15 African Americans (14.9%) 28 Caucasians (27.7%) 32 Hispanics (31.7%) 26 Other Races (25.7%)

Methods Materials Questionnaire Set of 10 pictures/ 3 versions Four key pictures, 6 random pictures

Illegally Breaking into a Car VS Legally Breaking into Car Method Materials Illegally Breaking into a Car VS Legally Breaking into Car

Arguing VS Friendly Conversation with Security Method Materials Arguing VS Friendly Conversation with Security

Cheating VS Working with a Classmate Method Materials Cheating VS Working with a Classmate

Gun to Protect Family VS Gun to Protect Outside of Family Method Materials Gun to Protect Family VS Gun to Protect Outside of Family

Methods Procedure Dividers set up Participants viewed pictures 1-10 and answered questions accordingly Participants filled out demographic info (age, race, gender, major), then answered the question pertaining to their view on level of equality of racial groups Debriefing

Results Chi Square Test Alpha .05

Results Significant Findings Car Situation “illegally breaking in vs. legally breaking in,” Pearson Chi-Square =.002.

Results Non Significant Findings Cheating Situation Gun Situation Pearson Chi-Square =.668 Gun Situation Pearson Chi-Square =.616

Results Significant Findings Security Situation “arguing vs. friendly conversation” Pearson Chi-Square =.001

Discussion Findings Supports past research Although, only 2 out of the 4 main pictures were significant, it still supports our hypothesis Hispanics viewed more negatively Los Angeles location—we are exposed to more Hispanic immigrants who are viewed more negatively

Discussion Limitations Pictures were not identical Participant Bias In some of the facial expressions In the angles which the pictures were shot Participant Bias Participants may have answered the questions in a way which made them seem more socially desirable

Conclusion All racial groups are not perceived equally. There is a negative perception when certain minority groups are present.

Thank you THE END