Contact: skonrathumich.edu

1
Summary In this study we found that people rat
ed African-Americans as a group more positively,
but an African-American leader more negatively,
on MLK Day as compared to control days
MLK Day and attitude change
Liking the group more, but specific exemplars less
Source www.defenselink.mil/afis/editors/lineart/M
LK.jpg

• Introduction
• Martin Luther King was a 1960s civil rights
  activist honored with a national holiday 15 years
  after his assassination
  
• This study examined the effect of MLK Day on
  students attitudes towards African-Americans,
  both as a group and individually
  
• Theoretical background
• Exposure to well-liked African-American exemplars
  can increase favorability toward
  African-Americans as a group (Bodenhausen et al.,
  1995)
• However, others have suggested that exposure to
  idealized African-Americans may decrease
  favorability toward individual group members
  because they may be contrasted against such a
  high standard (Gates, 1989 Jhally Lewis,
  1992)
• This is in line with Schwarz Bless (1992)
  inclusion / exclusion model of assimilation and
  contrast, which assigns an important role to
  category structure
• Assimilation effects emerge when the
• primed exemplar is included in the
• representation formed of the group
• (superordinate category)
• Contrast effects emerge when the
• primed exemplar serves as a standard
• for evaluating other exemplars (lateral
• categories)

• Method
• Design
• Between-subjects Participants were
  randomly assigned to complete the survey either 2
  weeks before, during, or 2 weeks after MLK Day
  2004
• Within subjects Ratings of
  African-Americans as a group and an individual
  African-American (Colin Powell). These were
  presented in counterbalanced order.
• Participants
• 1366 email addresses were randomly selected from
  our student directory
  
• All were sent an email inviting them to complete
  a short online survey about Current Issues, of
  which 199 responded (14.6 response rate)
  
• Mean age 22.78 (range 18-46)
• Ethnicity 80.4 Caucasion, 7.5 Asian-American,
  1.5 African-American, rest other or blank
  
• Measures
• Ratings of group Items from the modern
  racism scale (McConahay, 1986) were used to
  determine attitudes toward African-Americans as a
  group
• e.g. Discrimination against Blacks still
  a problem in the U.S. today (higher agreement
  indicates more favorable group attitudes)
  
• Ratings of individual Participants were
  asked how they feel about a specific
  African-American exemplar, Colin Powell
  (1dislike him a lot 9 like him a lot)
• Other Additional questions (e.g. about
  the economy) were asked to ensure our cover story
  was believable

• Conclusions
• Under real-life conditions of exposure to MLK,
  without any reminder to participants of the MLK
  Day holiday, we found our predicted assimilation
  and contrast effects
• Consistent with past research
• -Group evaluations assimilated to
• the primed exemplar
• -Individual evaluations contrasted
• with the primed exemplar
• The predicted effects were only observed for
  participants who attended an MLK Day event, thus
  ensuring a strong priming manipulation
  
• Considerations
• Numerous events surrounding MLK Day may prime
  more than Martin Luther King, so it is necessary
  to conduct analogous studies in more controlled
  settings
• Future directions
• We are currently conducting laboratory studies in
  order to replicate this effect

• Results
• Participants overall rated African-Americans as a
  group more positively on MLK Day than before or
  after it, but rated Colin Powell more negatively
  on MLK Day as compared to the control days

Target X Date interaction, F(2,183)4.49, p.012

• This pattern was only found in participants who
  attended (or planned to attend) an MLK Day
  special event (N59)
  
• Participants who did not attend an event showed
  no attitude change over the three time periods
  toward either African-Americans as a group or the
  specific exemplar

Group contrast t(56)3.01, p.004 Exemplar
contrast t(56) -1.98, p.053
Source www.defenselink.mil/afis/editors/lineart/K
ing3.jpg
Contact skonrath_at_umich.edu