Now They are American, Now They are Not: Valence as a Determinant of the Inclusion of African Americans in the American Identity

Abstract

Implicitly, Americans of several ethnicities associate being American with being White (American = White effect). Three studies investigated the basis for this effect and tested its malleability. We predicted that African Americans would be included into the category American when they were perceived positively, but would be excluded when they were perceived negatively. Experiment 1 showed that subliminal presentation of positive African American stereotypic traits reduced the American = White effect, but that subliminal presentation of negative African American stereotypic traits increased this effect. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that presenting positive African American exemplars decreased the American = White effect, whereas presenting negative African American exemplars increased it. Experiment 2 also revealed that negative African American exemplars (compared to positive African American exemplars) reduced categorization of African Americans as American and that these categorizations accounted for cha...