Perceived prototypicality of Asian subgroups in the United States and the United Kingdom

Intersectional race-gender stereotypes in natural language

How are Asian and Black men and women stereotyped? Research from the gendered race and stereotype content perspectives has produced mixed empirical findings. Using BERT models pre-trained on English language books, news articles, Wikipedia, Reddit and Twitter, with a new method for measuring propositions in natural language (the Fill-Mask Association Test, FMAT), we explored the gender (masculinity-femininity), physical strength, warmth and competence contents of stereotypes about Asian and Black men and women. We find that Asian men (but not women) are stereotyped as less masculine and less moral/trustworthy than Black men. Compared to Black men and Black women, respectively, both Asian men and Asian women are stereotyped as less muscular/athletic and less assertive/dominant, but more sociable/friendly and more capable/intelligent. These findings suggest that Asian and Black stereotypes in natural language have multifaceted contents and gender nuances, requiring a balanced view integrating the gender schema theory and the stereotype content model. Exploring their semantic representations as propositions in large language models, this research reveals how intersectional race-gender stereotypes are naturally expressed in real life.

Intersectional Male-Centric and White-Centric Biases in Collective Concepts

In principle, the fundamental concepts person, woman, and man should apply equally to people of different genders and races/ethnicities. In reality, these concepts might prioritize certain groups over others. Based on interdisciplinary theories of androcentrism, we hypothesized that (a) person is more associated with men than women (person = man) and (b) woman is more associated with women than man is with men (i.e., women are more gendered: gender = woman). We applied natural language processing tools (specifically, word embeddings) to the linguistic output of millions of individuals (specifically, the Common Crawl corpus). We found the hypothesized person = man / gender = woman bias. This bias was stronger about Hispanic and White (vs. Asian) women and men. We also uncovered parallel biases favoring White individuals in the concepts person, woman, and man. Western society prioritizes men and White individuals as people and "others" women as people with gender, with implications for equity across policy- and decision-making contexts.

Stereotypes bias social class perception from faces: The roles of race, gender, affect, and attractiveness

People quickly form consequential impressions of others' social class standing from nonverbal cues, including facial appearance. Extant research shows that perceivers judge faces that appear more positive, attractive, and healthy as higher-class, in line with stereotypes associating high class standing with happiness, attractiveness, and better wellbeing (which bear a kernel of truth). A wealth of research, moreover, demonstrates strong stereotypical associations between social class and both race and gender. The current work bridged these areas of inquiry to explore (1) intersectional biases in social class impressions from faces and (2) how associations between social class and attractiveness/health and affect can be used to shift social class impressions. Our studies found evidence of race and gender stereotypes impacting British perceivers' social class judgements, with Black (vs. White and Asian) and female (vs. male) faces judged as lower in class. Furthermore, manipulating faces' emotion expression shifted judgements of their social class, with variations in magnitude by faces' race, such that emotion expressions shifted judgements of Black faces more than White faces. Finally, manipulating faces' complexion to appear healthier/more attractive shifted social class judgements, with the magnitude of this varying by faces' and perceivers' race, suggesting a role of perceptual expertise. These findings demonstrate that stereotypes bias social class impressions and can be used to manipulate them.

'We are not the virus'-Experiences of racism among East & Southeast Asian heritage young people in London during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

The spread of COVID-19 was accompanied by news reports of surging racism, xenophobia, and hate crime all over the Global North targeting individuals of East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) descent. However, little empirical research has documented the impacts of COVID-19 on child and adolescent ESEAs. We describe and analyse the mental health experiences of young ESEA Londoners during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We purposively recruited 23 young people (aged 9-20) of ESEA heritage through social media and existing ESEA networks and analysed transcripts using thematic analysis. Participants experienced distress from being exposed to multiple forms of racism ranging from strangers on the street avoiding or harassing them to classmates at school or university making racist 'jokes', comments or 'banter'. Participants worried about hate crimes reported in news media and experienced anxiety from seeing pervasive racist content in online social media. Some participants responded by physically isolating themselves at home for long periods, whilst others chose to participate in activism, providing a sense of agency. Action by parents and school authorities was reported to help prevent further bullying, but respondents did not always feel able to approach these for help. Our findings put into focus the strain on young ESEA Londoners' mental health caused by COVID-related racism and jar against simplified depictions of metropolitan places, such as London, as centres of cosmopolitanism and tolerance. To promote the emotional wellbeing of young ESEAs, future policy should facilitate action by schools and universities against anti-ESEA racism and support ESEA community-building efforts to enhance resilience in the face of racism.

Dress is a Fundamental Component of Person Perception

ACADEMIC ABSTRACT

Clothing, hairstyle, makeup, and accessories influence first impressions. However, target dress is notably absent from current theories and models of person perception. We discuss three reasons for this minimal attention to dress in person perception: high theoretical complexity, incompatibility with traditional methodology, and underappreciation by the groups who have historically guided research in person perception. We propose a working model of person perception that incorporates target dress alongside target face, target body, context, and perceiver characteristics. Then, we identify four types of inferences for which perceivers rely on target dress: social categories, cognitive states, status, and aesthetics. For each of these, we review relevant work in social cognition, integrate this work with existing dress research, and propose future directions. Finally, we identify and offer solutions to the theoretical and methodological challenges accompanying the psychological study of dress.

PUBLIC ABSTRACT

Why is it that people often agonize over what to wear for a job interview, a first date, or a party? The answer is simple: They understand that others' first impressions of them rely on their clothing, hairstyle, makeup, and accessories. Many people might be surprised, then, to learn that psychologists' theories about how people form first impressions of others have little to say about how people dress. This is true in part because the meaning of clothing is so complex and culturally dependent. We propose a working model of first impressions that identifies four types of information that people infer from dress: people's social identities, mental states, status, and aesthetic tastes. For each of these, we review existing research on clothing, integrate this research with related work from social psychology more broadly, and propose future directions for research.

Volunteering in the community: Understanding personal experiences of South Asians in the United Kingdom

Upstanding civic action is central to individual and community well-being, particularly when communities comprise rich and diverse membership. However, not all groups in society have the same opportunities and resources to volunteer. This is particularly true for South Asian people, who are often reported to be less likely to volunteer. Research into the experience and meanings that this ethnic group attributes to volunteering has been exceptionally scarce. Informed by a community psychology perspective, this qualitative study conducted nine semistructured interviews with British South Asians involved in formal volunteering activities. The aim was to explore their personal experiences and motivations regarding volunteering for their community of belonging. Results from reflexive thematic analysis were grouped under three themes. These were (1) volunteering cultivated individual well-being, (2) South Asians who volunteer often experience social injustice and marginalisation and (3) volunteering for South Asians is intrinsically tied to religious and cultural motivations. British South Asians faced personal and social obstacles in accessing fundamental health and social care in their communities of belonging. Religion, and community social capital were positive volunteering strategies for British South Asians. Positive impacts of well-being included becoming closer to faith and increased sense of meaning/purpose and recognising of individual strengths. These findings offer valuable insights and recommendations for community organisations and governmental bodies to better promote volunteering for ethnic minorities. We suggest the adoption of cultural and religious sensitivity, along with strategies to remove barriers in access to opportunities and support for volunteering.

The Pandemic and the “Perpetual Foreigner”: How Threats Posed by the COVID-19 Pandemic Relate to Stereotyping of Asian Americans

We examined the “othering” of Asian Americans in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Given past evidence that pathogen-related threat perceptions can exacerbate intergroup biases, as well as salient public narratives blaming the Chinese for the pandemic, we assessed whether individuals experiencing a greater sense of threat during the pandemic were more likely to apply the “perpetual foreigner” stereotype to Asian Americans. Over a seven-week period, we recruited 1,323 White Americans to complete a measure of the perceived Americanness of Asian, Black, and White targets. Asian targets were consistently perceived as less American than White targets, across variations in subjective health threat and regional case counts. The direct and indirect connections of political ideology to the observed patterns were examined, revealing that White participants who blamed China for the pandemic were more likely to apply the perpetual foreigner stereotype to Asian Americans. These results indicate that the othering of Asian Americans is pervasive among White Americans and that variables related to social conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic can predict the potency of this association.