The Effects of a Speaker's Race upon Person Perception

Abstract

Summary This study was conducted to determine if knowledge of a speaker's race influences S's perception of him. Forty white male volunteer undergraduates were randomly assigned to one of four groups: I. White speaker, race unidentified; II. White speaker, race identified; III. Black speaker, race unidentified; IV. Black speaker, race identified. After hearing a recorded message, Ss completed a trait checklist and a measure of retention. No significant difference was found for Ss' impressions for the black vs. white speaker or for the race identified vs. race unidentified groups. A significant interaction (p = .05) was found. Also, no difference was found between groups for retention, nor for individual traits except that more Ss who listened to the black felt the speaker was “good looking” (p < .02) and also thought about the speaker's race as they listened to the message (p < .001).