Your Name Is Your Lifesaver: Anglicization of Names and Moral Dilemmas in a Trilogy of Transportation Accidents

Abstract

Can immigrants’ names determine whether they receive help or not? Drawing on a partial in-group membership framework, we adapted intergroup versions of moral dilemmas (a trilogy of transportation accidents) to test how Anglicizing ethnic names affects intergroup decision-making in hypothetical life-and-death situations. Study 1 showed that White American participants were equally likely to help White and Asian immigrants with Anglicized names but were less likely to help Asian immigrants with original ethnic names. The same effect emerged in Study 2 but only among male White American participants. In Study 3, White pro-assimilationists were more likely to help White than Arab immigrants (with either Anglicized or original ethnic names), but White pro-multiculturalists were more likely to help Arab immigrants with Anglicized names than White targets. The results suggest that name Anglicization as a cultural assimilation practice may reduce intergroup bias, but the precise pattern of effects is context-dependent.