Abstract
On March 8, 2020, there was a 650% increase in Twitter retweets using the term “Chinese virus” and related terms. On March 9, there was an 800% increase in the use of these terms in conservative news media articles. Using data from non-Asian respondents of the Project Implicit “Asian Implicit Association Test” from 2007–2020 (n = 339,063), we sought to ascertain if this change in media tone increased bias against Asian Americans. Local polynomial regression and interrupted time-series analyses revealed that Implicit Americanness Bias—or the subconscious belief that European American individuals are more “American” than Asian American individuals—declined steadily from 2007 through early 2020 but reversed trend and began to increase on March 8, following the increase in stigmatizing language in conservative media outlets. The trend reversal in bias was more pronounced among conservative individuals. This research provides evidence that the use of stigmatizing language increased subconscious beliefs that Asian Americans are “perpetual foreigners.” Given research that perpetual foreigner bias can beget discriminatory behavior and that experiencing discrimination is associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes, this research sounds an alarm about the effects of stigmatizing media on the health and welfare of Asian Americans.
Highlights
On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised that media institutions refer to the novel coronavirus as “COVID-19” or coronavirus
We found that over this 13-year time period, Implicit Americanness Bias decreased at a rate of approximately 0.000033 (SE = 0.000000573) points per day (95% confidence interval [CI; −0.00034, −0.00032])
In the period from February 11 to March 7, 2020, bias was diminishing at a rate of approximately 0.0037 points per day among non-Asians but began increasing at a rate of 0.0017 points per day on March 8, and increased by approximately 0.041 points between March 8 and March 31. Combining these results from simple regression reported in our Aim 1 analysis, we found that after March 8, Implicit Americanness Bias grew enough to offset more than 3 years of prior declines
Summary
On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) advised that media institutions refer to the novel coronavirus as “COVID-19” or coronavirus. The use of stigmatizing terminology falls to negligible levels in Twitter retweets and news media articles. The temporal discontinuity in the nature of media regarding coronavirus can be leveraged to study whether the media tone shift resulted in an increase in bias against Asian Americans. Theories of “media effects” suggest that the use of stigmatizing terms such as the “Chinese virus” could negatively influence public attitudes about Asian Americans. Research suggests media can influence adoption of this stereotype at the subconscious level (Yogeeswaran et al, 2012) Harboring these implicit beliefs, in turn, may encourage discriminatory acts against Asian Americans, for example in hiring (Yogeeswaran & Dasgupta, 2010)
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