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

Jordan S Daley,Natalie M Gallagher,Galen V Bodenhausen

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.821891

Jordan S Daley, Natalie M Gallagher + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.821891

Copy DOI

Abstract

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.

Highlights

Stereotypes held about many social groups are rooted in historical patterns of intergroup relations, patterns reflecting intergroup conflict and groups’ relative success and status (e.g., Fiske et al, 2007)
Blaming China for the pandemic predicted greater Asian-White differentiation in Americanness ratings, and greater US-born/Foreign-born differentiation in Americanness ratings. These findings provide a snapshot of White Americans’ experiences during the first summer of the COVID-19 pandemic and how these experiences are connected to perceptions of Asian people in America
While previous work has focused on the relationship between pathogen concern and increased levels of prejudice toward certain groups, we focus instead on the attribution of Americanness to Asian targets

Summary

Introduction

Stereotypes held about many social groups are rooted in historical patterns of intergroup relations, patterns reflecting intergroup conflict and groups’ relative success and status (e.g., Fiske et al, 2007). Stereotype content often reflects perceptions of intergroup conflict, including both resource competition and conflicting cultural values (Bobo, 1988; Sears and Henry, 2003; for a review, see Bodenhausen and Richeson, 2010). New conditions emerge that can potentially modulate the content and expression of intergroup biases. Whites’ expressions of ethnoracial bias have been tied to fluctuations in economic conditions (Bianchi et al, 2018) and to increases in the size of minority populations (Quillian, 1995; Craig and Richeson, 2014; Zou and Cheryan, 2021). We examined whether the social upheaval associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the patterns of perceived threat that it has given rise to are associated with changes in the expression of stereotypes about Asian Americans, given the origins of the pandemic in China

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion