Exposure to Biracial Faces Reduces Colorblindness.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Across six studies, we demonstrate that exposure to biracial individuals significantly reduces endorsement of colorblindness as a racial ideology among White individuals. Real-world exposure to biracial individuals predicts lower levels of colorblindness compared with White and Black exposure (Study 1). Brief manipulated exposure to images of biracial faces reduces colorblindness compared with exposure to White faces, Black faces, a set of diverse monoracial faces, or abstract images (Studies 2-5). In addition, these effects occur only when a biracial label is paired with the face rather than resulting from the novelty of the mixed-race faces themselves (Study 4). Finally, we show that the shift in White participants' colorblindness attitudes is driven by social tuning, based on participants' expectations that biracial individuals are lower in colorblindness than monoracial individuals (Studies 5-6). These studies suggest that the multiracial population's increasing size and visibility has the potential to positively shift racial attitudes.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Gaither, SE; Toosi, NR; Babbitt, LG; Sommers, SR

Published Date

  • January 2019

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 45 / 1

Start / End Page

  • 54 - 66

PubMed ID

  • 29871551

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1552-7433

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0146-1672

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1177/0146167218778012

Language

  • eng