Mixed Race Studies

Study finds bias, disgust toward mixed-race couples

UW Today
2016-08-17

Deborah Bach

Interracial marriage has grown in the United States over the past few decades, and polls show that most Americans are accepting of mixed-race relationships.

A 2012 study by the Pew Research Center found that interracial marriages in the U.S. had doubled between 1980 and 2010 to about 15 percent, and just 11 percent of respondents disapproved of interracial marriage.

But new research from the University of Washington suggests that reported acceptance of interracial marriage masks deeper feelings of discomfort — even disgust — that some feel about mixed-race couples. Published online in July in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and co-authored by UW postdoctoral researcher Caitlin Hudac, the study found that bias against interracial couples is associated with disgust that in turn leads interracial couples to be dehumanized…

Read the entire article here.

“Yuck, you disgust me!” Affective bias against interracial couples

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Volume 68, January 2017
pages 68–77
DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2016.05.008

Allison L. Skinner, Postdoctoral Researcher
University of Washington

Caitlin M. Hudac, Senior Post-doctoral Fellow
University of Washington

Highlights

• Bias against interracial romance is correlated with self-reported feelings of disgust.
• Interracial couples elicit a neural disgust response among observers – as indicated by increased insula activation.
• Manipulating state disgust leads to implicit dehumanization of interracial couples.
• Findings suggest that meaningful social units (e.g., couples) influence person perception.

The current research expands upon the sparse existing literature on the nature of bias against interracial couples. Study 1 demonstrates that bias against interracial romance is correlated with disgust. Study 2 provides evidence that images of interracial couples evoke a neural disgust response among observers – as indicated by increased insula activation relative to images of same-race couples. Consistent with psychological theory indicating that disgust leads to dehumanization, Study 3 demonstrates that manipulating disgust leads to implicit dehumanization of interracial couples. Overall, the current findings provide evidence that interracial couples elicit disgust and are dehumanized relative to same-race couples. These findings are particularly concerning, given evidence of antisocial reactions (e.g., aggression, perpetration of violence) to dehumanized targets. Findings also highlight the role of meaningful social units (e.g., couples) in person perception, an important consideration for psychologists conducting social cognition research.

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