How We Are Affected by Racial Stereotypes

Yena, Cymone, and Clemens

Research Questions

Big Question: How deeply are the stereotypical images of race embedded in people’s perceptions?

Operational definition of “depth”: How similarly people with different ethnicities respond to different races

Research Questions

Specific Questions:

What kind of adjectives would people of different ethnicities (in Korea and the U.S.) associate with different races?

Are people’s stereotypes and personal perceptions similar/different?

Hypothesis

The contemporary stereotypes of both Koreans and Americans will be similar to their personal perceptions of different ethnicities.

(This phenomenon would occur because many stereotypes are formed and disseminated from the U.S. media, which influence vast number of countries including Korea.)

Research Method

Random sampling within KIS/UHS

20 subjects per school = 40 samples

Survey format: Reading the instructions and filling out the given survey sheets

Survey Process

1. Ask people to choose any adjectives (numbers do not matter) that, in their opinion, reflect the contemporary stereotypes of each race. 2. Tell them that they can put any adjectives they wish if they cannot find ones they want on the list.

Survey Process

3. Ask people to choose any adjectives (numbers do not matter) that reflect their personal perceptions of each race. 4. Tell them that they can put any adjectives they wish if they cannot find ones they want on the list.

Survey Process

5. Let them know that if they think their adjectives that reflect contemporary stereotypes are the same as those of their personal perceptions, they simply need to copy the same adjectives from the above.6. Let them know that their anonymity will be guaranteed as they will write their answers on a piece of paper and put them into a box.

Teamwork

Successful communication through Facebook

TeamworkSuccessful communication through Google Docs

Part I. KIS & UHS: Data

(Collected)

Adjective List

Survey Sheets

Survey Sheets

Part II.KIS: Data (Organized)

UHS: Data (Organized)

BlackContemporary

Personal

WhiteContemporary

Personal

IndianContemporary

Personal

AsianContemporary

Personal

South AmericanContemporary

Personal

Southeast AsianContemporary

Personal

Middle EasternContemporary

Personal

Graphs

Graphs

Our FindingsMatching Stereotypes: U.S.

White: 7/16 = 44%

Asians: 5/11 = 45%

Black: 5/18 = 28%

Middle Eastern: 2/10 = 20%

Indians: 5/10 = 50%

Southeastern: 3/6 = 50%

South American: 5/5 = 100%

Our FindingsMatching Stereotypes: KOREA

White: 5/7 = 71%

Asians: 3/7 = 43%

Black: 2/10 = 20%

MIddle Eastern: 2/7 = 29%

Indians: 1/3 = 33%

Southeastern: 1/3 = 33%

South American: 4/6 = 67%

Data Analysis•Our data’s trend: the more familiar we are

with an ethnicity, the greater the number of adjectives

•U.S.: the more familiar, the fewer overlaps of adjectives, vice versa

•Korea: the more familiar, the more overlaps of adjectives, vice versa (one exception exists)

•Possible cause of the differences: U.S. is a much more diverse nation than Korea

- Because the sample size is only 40, it is not enough to generalize our findings into a greater population. Therefore, we cannot make any definite conclusions concerning our results.

- Since we only sampled from KIS and UHS, it is not possible to generalize their response into the Korean/Americans’ opinions.

Assessment of Accuracy

Assessment of Accuracy

- There may be some bias in the data of Asian stereotypes/personal perceptions collected in KIS because the students may have answered more positively for their own ethnicity.

- For the races that Koreans are not familiar with, the participants may simply have said “same as the stereotypical adjectives” when putting the adjectives for their personal perceptions, yielding inaccurate results.

Conclusion

Our hypothesis vs. our findings?

Q & A

Thank you! :)