Society & Culture - Posted by Laura Rico-UC Irvine on Wednesday, December 2, 2009 13:02 - 7 Comments 
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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) Loading ...Bias colors opinion on Obama policies
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with former presidents George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office of the White House in early January before assuming office. Below, he gives remarks in the Rose Garden on July 21, praising what he views as a growing consensus for healthcare reform. (Video/Photo Courtesy: www.whitehouse.gov)
UC IRVINE (US)—Racial prejudice plays a role in driving reactions to President Obama and his policies, psychologist Eric Knowles has found.
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The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.
Subtle racism among study subjects correlated with reluctance to vote for Obama and opposition to his healthcare reform plan. When presented with identical healthcare proposals, participants previously determined to be biased were more likely to support the one attributed to former President Clinton than the one attributed to Obama.
“We show that Obama’s race—not just the ideological character of his policies—is a factor in some of the opposition to his proposals,” says Knowles, assistant professor of psychology and social behavior at the University of California, Irvine, and lead author of the study, which was adjusted for political affiliation.
Beginning in the weeks prior to the 2008 election, researchers interviewed 285 white, Asian, and Latino people, the majority of whom classified themselves as politically left of center.
Anti-black bias was assessed through a task that required participants to sort words or names associated with black and white culture into positive and negative categories. The more “black” words a subject considered negative, the higher his or her level of prejudice was judged to be.
“The words appeared on a screen very quickly, and participants were given less than a second to respond to each one,” Knowles says. “They didn’t have a lot of time to deliberate. They had to give their immediate reaction.”
Researchers then looked at attitudes toward Obama, determining how subjects voted and how they felt about his approach to healthcare reform. People high in anti-black bias were 43 percent less likely to vote for Obama than those with a lesser bias.
Shown a single healthcare reform proposal and told it was either Clinton’s from 1993 or Obama’s, 65 percent of highly prejudiced participants supported the “Clinton” plan, while just 41 percent agreed with the same proposal attributed to Obama. Subjects who showed little bias were about evenly split on “Obama’s” healthcare plan: 48 percent opposed and 52 percent in favor.
Those with a bias also were more likely to have specific worries about the policy, such as that it would lead to socialism, raise costs, and promote abortion.
The study gauged implicit prejudice—bias that is subconscious or expressed inadvertently, Knowles says, noting that this type of prejudice is more subtle than blatant, verbally expressed racism.
“You can’t just assume people are aware of how racial bias affects their decision making, or that they’ll admit it even if they are aware,” he says. “By measuring people’s gut reactions, we were able to examine how hidden biases operate in the political domain.”
The study appears in the current issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. In addition to Knowles, Brian Lowery and Rebecca Schaumberg of Stanford University worked on the study, which was funded by a research stipend from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
University of California at Irvine news: www.uci.edu
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7 Comments
Bill Clinton
Jimmy Carter
Dear Bill Clinton ~
Learn spelling, grammar, and punctuation before posting, please. I admit that your errors help the rest of us identify you as the twit you are, but I still find your slop painful to read.
Oh, by the way, you’re confusing the concept of ‘race’ with that of ‘species’ – all humans come from the same species, so your examples of zebras and lions don’t really apply. And Islam isn’t a race. Are you suggesting that all Christians voted the same way in the election? (Hint: they didn’t.) I could go on, but really, it’s not worth the time.
Honestly, do us all a favor and don’t reproduce.
Thanks,
Jimmy
Not a surprising research finding. The sad thing is how politicians exploit this.
Tony - Overland Park
We know less of those we don’t see on a daily basis.
Combine that with the early formative years…
It’s a struggle for some to go against the grain of upbringing
to place logic and knowledge ahead of emotive type
of decision-making.
Albert Einstein.
Albert Einstein certainly bacame a devout Jew after world war II and was offered office as “President of Israel:
94% of blacks voted for obama. YES
Did 94% of white vote for Mccain NO
blacks are as bias as any other group. Bias is Natural product of Human Evolution.
Nation-State.
1. Nation, group of people of common race, language culture, etc. mexico, japan, russia,
2. State: government to protect the people culture, race
S
Survival of the Nation, Culture and State. True
Hadrian
A few people suggest that bias should be expected. Their comments also seem to suggest that bias should be celebrated. My view is that the study quantifies common wisdom, so in many ways it’s not surprising or unexpected. What I find surprising is that readers of this article would post comments suggesting that bias is OK. The study points out that people are likely to vote against there self interest based on there bias. This can’t be a good thing. A good idea presented by an enemy or friend is still a good idea.
The question isn’t whether bias exists, the question is how do we make decisions for our Family, friends or country knowing that bias is an integral part of our human make-up.
We should also remember that the definition of race, culture, language or nation states aren’t static. They have all evolved over time. This is why the people and language of our country has many deep roots that touches many ethnicities that in the recent past fought each other fiercely for some now forgotten grievance.
John F. Kennedy
Bias is Natural.
Bias is Not just OK. Bias is product of human evolution. of humans living on earth. When I got elected, the Irish in Ireland placed picture of me Next to the Pope.
Bias is Natural.
How many Iraq people have died in “Iraqi Freedom” don’t know
How many Afgans have died in “Enduring Freedoom” don’t know
We certainly know how many Americans have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Race is group of people with extended genes. true true true
Duh. It’s called “birds of same feather” Human beings are a prodcut of Nature. Nature predoses humans care for their own children, family, kin and race. Animals that do Not Nuture their own children will be extinct or gone.
All Animals have a Natural affinity for their kind. Zebras, lions and humans have a Natural affinity for others who are like them.
Witness Zimbawe who killed all the white farmers there in favor of native blacks there.
Witness Jews who created a Jewish state and a Jewish Army after World War II.
Witness Muslim worldwide who have Natural affinity for other muslims.
Witness 95% of blacks who voted for Obams.
95% blacks voted for Obama.
If Natural affinity for one’s kind is Not at work here. What else is at work.
“Race is thicker than politics”
Liberals and Academics will pretend race do Not exist. Race does exist.
Look to Nature. Look at animals, birds. All animals of the same kind graze together.
Nature at work. Work of Nature.
Truth that world to except as true. Truth as reality of world