The effect of wearing college apparel on Black men's perceived criminality and perceived risk of being racially profiled by police

Abstract

The current research examines whether a prejudice reduction strategy used by Black college students—signaling a college affiliation—mitigates the perceived risk that a Black man will be seen as a criminal and racially profiled by police. Across four studies, college students of color (study 1: N = 160; study 2: N = 203) and Black and White people (study 3A: N = 205; study 3B: N = 394) perceived a Black man who displayed a college logo on his hoodie as significantly less likely to be seen as a criminal than when he did not. This remained true when the college logo was from a university that was objectively high in prestige (Princeton University; studies 1–2), moderate in prestige (John Jay College; study 2), or had no preexisting prestige (the fictional Pennbrook University; studies 3A and 3B). While college apparel did not consistently reduce the perceived risk that police would racially profile a Black man, an exploratory moderation analysis found that perceiving racial profiling as stemming more from individual than systemic bias lessened this perceived risk for Black but not White participants (study 3B). College apparel also indirectly predicted a lower likelihood of racial profiling through its effect on perceived criminality across all studies. Together, these results suggest that college apparel is believed to mitigate negative stereotypes associated with Black men; however, the perceived likelihood that police will racially profile a Black man is influenced by both his perceived criminality and lay theories of police bias.