PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Emilie B. Mitchell

MA-Research
May 2001

Justice Is in the Eye of the Beholder: The Role of Implicit Racial Stereotypes on
Source-Monitoring Decisions and Assessments of Punishment

    This research focused on the effect of implicit racial stereotypes on source-monitoring decisions and assessments of punishment.  Previous research had identified a construct known as aversive racism, or residual negative feelings toward certain races despite conscious egalitarian beliefs.  It was hypothesized that aversive racism plays a role in how information about certain racial groups is remembered.  To assess the effects of tacit racism on information processing, participants read two stories describing a crime.  Half received stereotype-congruent crime stories (i.e.,  Black carjacker); the other half received stereotype-incongruent crime stories (i.e., Caucasian carjacker).  Additionally, participants were asked to ascribe punishment to the perpetrators.

    Results showed racist Caucasian participants made significantly more source-monitoring errors than nonracist participants when presented with stereotype-incongruent information.  Further, racist participants punished more harshly than did nonracist participants, regardless of the race of the perpetrator.  Implications of implicit racism on jury decisions are discussed.

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