Perceptions Of Asian Americans Research Articles

From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back to Yellow Peril

During the COVID-19 pandemic, some perceptions of Asian Americans in the United States shifted as anti-Asian hate crimes escalated. However, little is known about how these shifting views manifest in K–12 schools. This qualitative case study uses Asian critical race theory to examine how two Southeast Asian American students faced exclusion and erasure before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and how their Southeast Asian American teacher advocated for them at a public elementary school in the Pacific Northwest. Implications include how researchers can pursue inquiries about Asian American students’ holistic development and how in-service and pre-service teachers can address anti-Asian xenophobia.

A four-dimensional model of Asian American stereotypes

The content of the Asian American model minority stereotype is important for understanding how Asian American individuals are perceived. Existing theories about stereotype content may not capture the unique historical and cultural context that could affect perceptions of Asian American individuals. We have identified a more differentiated underlying structure with four dimensions—warmth, competence, self-centeredness, and submissiveness—that differ in their rated typicality and desirability for Asian and White Americans. We then developed the 16-item Asian American Stereotypes Scale to measure perceptions of Asian Americans on these four dimensions. Ratings on the different dimensions predict unique variance in attitudes toward Asian Americans and other minority groups, contact with Asians or Asian Americans, perceptions of size of the Asian American population, and system justification. The four-dimensional model and the Asian American Stereotypes Scale allow us to predict and examine the unique impacts of Asian American stereotypes in a way that differs from more general models.

High-Status Exemplars and the Misperception of the Asian-White Wealth Gap

In this research, we test the central hypothesis that perceptions of Asian Americans as a high-status “model minority” lead to overestimates of the extent of wealth equality between Asian and White Americans. We test this hypothesis across three studies that manipulate the salience of high- or low-status Asian American exemplars before soliciting estimates of Asian-White wealth equality. A meta-analysis of the results revealed that participants significantly overestimated Asian-White wealth equality and that making low- versus high-status Asian American exemplars salient decreased this tendency. These data suggest that activation of high-status Asian American exemplars elicits greater overestimates of Asian-White wealth equality, obscuring existing wealth disparities relative to White Americans and significantly downplaying the economic inequality that burdens a subset of Asian Americans from less prototypical ethnic backgrounds. The findings echo recent calls by sociologists and political scientists for a more nuanced understanding of the diversity and economic inequality among Asian American communities.

International Students’ Perceptions of Race and Socio-Economic Status in an American Higher Education Landscape

International students add a great deal of cultural and intellectual diversity to college campuses, but they also bring racial stereotypes and socio-economic status hierarchies that can affect campus climate. Forty-seven interviews with Chinese, Japanese, and South Korean international students were conducted. Results indicated that a majority of students had racial and status hierarchies and harbored prejudices toward African-Americans and Southeast Asians. Perceptions of Asian-Americans were mixed. Negative perceptions of Latinos were learned in the U.S., however positive perceptions of Latinos were held by South Korean students who had lived in the U.S. longer. This status hierarchy correlated closely with a racial hierarchy. A lack of opportunities to interact with diverse students led to stereotype proliferation. More policies and programs must be created that reduce misunderstandings between international and domestic students.

Asian Americans Beyond the Model Minority Stereotype: The Nerdy and the Left Out

Most racial-ethnic stereotypes about Asian Americans are constructed, activated, and perpetuated by the media, but very few empirical studies have ever investigated the extent to which people accept the media stereotypes about Asians. This study applied cultivation theory to examine whether people's perceptions of Asian Americans are consistent with media stereotypes and whether the media activated racial-ethnic stereotypes affect people's interaction behaviors with Asians. Results demonstrate that people's perceptions and judgments about Asian Americans are largely aligned with the media representations, and these stereotypes impact people's intent to interact with Asians. Four specific findings were obtained. First, among racial-ethnic groups in the U.S., Asians are perceived as most likely to achieve academic success; second, Asians are most likely to be perceived as nerds; third, Asians are perceived as most likely to be left out; and last, people are least likely to initiate friendship with Asians and Hispanics.

Whites' and Asian Americans' Perceptions of Asian Americans as Targets of Affirmative Action1

Although Asian Americans are technically a protected group, perceptions of Asian Americans as targets of affirmative action are largely unexplored, as are the attitudes of Asian Americans toward affirmative action. This study compared Whites' (N = 142) and Asian Americans' (N = 85) perceptions of workplace‐related discrimination and affirmative action beneficiary status for Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Whites and Asian Americans agreed that Asian Americans experience less adverse impact on tests and benefit less from affirmative action than do Blacks or Hispanics. However, Asian Americans were more likely than Whites to perceive that Asian Americans suffer from discrimination and underrepresentation and should benefit from affirmative action.

Screening Names Instead of Qualifications: Testing with Emailed Resumes Reveals Racial Preferences

In today’s California, Asian Americans and Arab Americans have diminished employment opportunities because employment agencies focus on their names, not qualifications. The Discrimination Research Center has documented the response rates to resumes submitted on behalf of men and women who have equal qualifications and ethnically identifiable names of Asian American, Arab American, Latino, African American and white backgrounds. Although potentially illegal and certainly unacceptable, results that showed that individuals with Arab or South Asian names, especially men, received the lowest response rates to their resumes were not particularly surprising in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 and subsequent changes in world affairs. Local animosity and antagonism ranging from discrimination to violence in response to events in the Middle East are well known and fit a historic pattern. Other statistically significant results showing Asian Americans receiving far fewer responses than white women applicants despite their comparable resumes suggest the persistence of long-held perceptions of Asian Americans as “foreigners”, not capable of “fitting in”, and reluctant to complain when wronged. Asian American community organizations and leaders may wish to replicate DRC testing in other parts of the United States or utilize these research results as a basis for workplace advocacy and litigation.

Asian Americans as a Model Minority: Self-Perceptions and Perceptions by other Racial Groups

Although an abundance of anecdotal and journalistic articles about Asian Americans as a model minority has appeared in the past two decades, a review of the literature revealed surprisingly few empirical studies on this subject. Specifically, no research has been done on whether Asian Americans perceive themselves as a model minority and how they are perceived by other racial groups. In this paper, the results of a sample survey of a large public land-grant university on Asian Americans' self-perceptions and other racial groups' perceptions of Asian Americans in terms of their preparedness for college, motivation, and expectations of future career success are reported. Using whites as a comparison group, it was found that Asian Americans perceived themselves as more prepared, motivated and more likely to have greater career success than whites. Also, the perceptions that Asian Americans were superior to whites in those three areas were shared by whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans. In contrast, the other three minority groups each viewed itself as inferior to whites in each of the three areas measured, and were so viewed by the other racial groups as well. The implications of these findings are explored.

Intergroup attitudes: Black American perceptions of Asian Americans

(1988). Intergroup attitudes: Black American perceptions of Asian Americans. Ethnic and Racial Studies: Vol. 11, No. 4, pp. 474-488.