Thierry Devos

The present research examined whether temporal fluctuations in context ethnic diversity account for current levels of implicit ethnic-American associations. Temporal fluctuations in ethnic diversity at the metropolitan level were assessed using data from four decennial U.S. censuses (1980–2010) and distinguishing three dimensions of context ethnic diversity (minority representation, variety, and integration). Project Implicit data (2011–2017) indexed the extent to which American identity was implicitly associated with European Americans over Asian Americans (i.e., American = White associations). Data were analyzed using multilevel modeling ( N = 152,011, nested within 226 metropolitan areas). Steeper increases in the proportion of Asian Americans were related to weaker implicit (but stronger explicit) American = White associations. Increases in ethnic integration accounted for stronger implicit American = White associations when integration fluctuations reflected accelerating rather...

The issue of ethnic diversity and national identity in an immigrant nation such as the USA is a recurrent topic of debate. We review and integrate research examining the extent to which the American identity is implicitly granted or denied to members of different ethnic groups. Consistently, European Americans are implicitly conceived of as being more American than African, Asian, Latino, and even Native Americans. This implicit American = White effect emerges when explicit knowledge or perceptions point in the opposite direction. The propensity to deny the American identity to members of ethnic minorities is particularly pronounced when targets (individuals or groups) are construed through the lenses of ethnic identities. Implicit ethnic–national associations fluctuate as a function of perceivers' ethnic identity and political orientation, but also contextual or situational factors. The tendency to equate being American with being White accounts for the strength of national identification (among European Americans) and behavioral responses including hiring recommendations and voting intentions. The robust propensity to deny the American identity to ethnic minority groups reflects an exclusionary national identity.

Social psychology instructors from five distinct state universities in California examined the effect of incorporating the Implicit Association Test (IAT) in a teaching module on students’ perceived knowledge of implicit biases and motivation to control prejudice. Students (N = 258) completed a knowledge survey on prejudice, stereotypes, and discrimination and a motivation to control prejudice scale before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) a teaching module on implicit and explicit prejudice that included taking the IAT. Results showed that students’ perceived knowledge of implicit biases increased after completing the teaching module. In addition, the more students displayed an implicit bias against African Americans (relative to European Americans), the more they reported mastering course material about implicit biases and the more they indicated being internally motivated to control prejudice (at Time 2). These findings suggest that using the IAT as a teaching tool might be a beneficial learning experience, in particular for individuals who display relatively pronounced implicit biases.

In this chapter, we explore the relevance of the implicit social cognition framework to research on multicultural identities. We posit that self-related mental processes underlying multicultural identities often operate at a largely automatic or nonconscious level. We propose a conceptualization of implicit multicultural identities as associative knowledge structures. We describe techniques that can be adapted to assess implicit multicultural identities. The chapter includes sections devoted to the relations between implicit and explicit self-concepts, the interconnections among various components of the self-system, the context-sensitivity of implicit self-definitions, and the cultural foundations of implicit knowledge. In sum, the chapter lays the foundations for a more systematic program of research on implicit multicultural identities.

In academic settings, Asian students are often described as less talkative than White students. We provide an account of this phenomenon based on research on cultural influences on the self, self-categorization, and implicit social cognition. We hypothesized that the classroom context activates a process of implicit self-stereotyping. Asian and White participants were asked to imagine themselves in a classroom or leisure context. Next, they completed Implicit Association Tests assessing their self-concept, ethnic stereotypes, and ethnic identification. In the classroom context only, ethnic stereotypes accounted for a more reserved self-concept among Asian participants and a more talkative self-concept among White participants.

A sample of 128 undergraduate women reported stronger identification with college education than with motherhood. In contrast, an Implicit Association Test revealed a slightly stronger identification with motherhood than with college education. Implicit attitudes toward college education and motherhood correlated with implicit (but not explicit) identification, whereas explicit attitudes correlated with explicit identification and, to a lesser extent, implicit identification. Internal (but not external) motivation to define the self as academically oriented predicted both explicit and implicit identifications. Results regarding the role of childhood and current experiences with gender roles were inconclusive. As a whole, these findings contribute to a better understanding of the potential for conflicts in the self-concept of college women.

We sought to document that the extent to which different ethnic groups are perceived as embodying the American identity is more strongly linked to anti-minority policy attitudes and acculturation ideologies among majority group members (European Americans) than among minority group members (Asian Americans or Latino/as). Participants rated 13 attributes of the American identity as they pertain to different ethnic groups, and reported their endorsement of policy attitudes and acculturation ideologies. We found a relative consensus across ethnic groups regarding defining components of the American identity. However, European Americans were perceived as more prototypical of this American identity than ethnic minorities, especially by European American raters. Moreover, for European Americans but not for ethnic minorities, relative ingroup prototypicality was related to anti-minority policy attitudes and acculturation ideologies. These findings suggest that for European Americans, perceptions of ethnic group prototypicality fulfill an instrumental function linked to preserving their group interests and limiting the rights afforded to ethnic minorities.

A robust relationship between perceived racial discrimination and psychological distress has been established. Yet, mixed evidence exists regarding the extent to which ethnic identification moderates this relationship, and scarce attention has been paid to the moderating role of national identification. We propose that the role of group identifications in the perceived discrimination–psychological distress relationship is best understood by simultaneously and interactively considering ethnic and national identifications. A sample of 259 Asian American students completed measures of perceived discrimi- nation, group identifications (specific ethnic identification stated by respondents and national or “main- stream American” identification), and psychological distress (anxiety and depression symptoms). Re- gression analyses revealed a significant three-way interaction of perceived discrimination, ethnic identification, and national identification on psychological distress. Simple-slope analyses indicated that dual identification (strong ethnic and national identifications) was linked to a weaker relationship between perceived discrimination and psychological distress compared with other group identification configurations. These findings underscore the need to consider the interconnections between ethnic and national identifications to better understand the circumstances under which group identifications are likely to buffer individuals against the adverse effects of racial discrimination.

The present research sought to distinguish the role of sociocultural negativity and social identification underlying gay men’s implicit attitudes towards sexual orientation. Fifty gay men completed two Implicit Association Tests. In both cases, the task required cat- egorising, as quickly as possible, pictures of gay vs. straight couples, but these stimuli were either classified using normative categorical labels (homosexual vs. heterosexual couples) or in terms of their self-relevance (similar vs. dissimilar to me). Participants also completed the Reactions to Homosexuality Scale and the Outness Inventory. As expected, the pro-gay attitude was more pronounced when implicit attitudes were assessed in terms of self-relevance than based on normative categorical labels. In addi- tion, these two facets of implicit attitudes overlapped more strongly among gay men who were less inclined to publicly affirm their sexual identity than among individuals who strongly identified publicly with being gay. The present findings extend our under- standing of the sources and functions of implicit attitudes among members of a sexual minority group.

Against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential election, we examined the extent to which the American identity was implicitly and explicitly associated with Barack Obama compared to Tony Blair (Study 1), Hillary Clinton (Study 2), and John McCain (Studies 3 and 4). When conscious control was relatively limited and targets were categorized based on race, the American identity was less strongly associated with Obama than with the other candidates. This effect was stronger than when the candidates were categorized based on their personal identity (Studies 1–4), gender (Study 2), political affiliation (Study 3), or age (Study 4). In addition, the extent to which candidates were differentiated in terms of implicit and explicit associations with the American identity predicted the relative willingness to actively support them.

In two studies conducted during the 2012 U.S. presidential election, we sought to determine whether the relative ascription of the American identity to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney was distinct from attitudinal responses and from associations about racial categories. We also tested the degree to which these associations accounted for voter support. In both studies, participants completed a series of Implicit Association Tests and reported their intention to vote for and their willingness to support these candidates. In contrast to implicit associations about racial categories (Black vs. White), Obama was implicitly seen as more American and elicited a more favorable implicit evaluation than Romney (Study 1). At the same time, these effects were reduced when candidates were categorized based on their racial (rather than personal) identity (Study 2). Implicit associations about the candidates (but not racial categories) accounted for intention to vote for them and relative willingness to support them over and above the effect of political orientation (Studies 1 & 2). These findings suggest that the implicit ascription of a national identity is an important facet of presidential elections.

Although a greater degree of personal obesity is associated with weaker negativity toward overweight people on both explicit (i.e., self-report) and implicit (i.e., indirect behavioral) measures, overweight people still prefer thin people on average. We investigated whether the national and cultural context – particularly the national prevalence of obesity – predicts attitudes toward overweight people independent of personal identity and weight status. Data were collected from a total sample of 338,121 citizens from 71 nations in 22 different languages on the Project Implicit website (https://implicit.harvard.edu/) between May 2006 and October 2010. We investigated the relationship of the explicit and implicit weight bias with the obesity both at the individual (i.e., across individuals) and national (i.e., across nations) level. Explicit weight bias was assessed with self-reported preference between overweight and thin people; implicit weight bias was measured with the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The national estimates of explicit and implicit weight bias were obtained by averaging the individual scores for each nation. Obesity at the individual level was defined as Body Mass Index (BMI) scores, whereas obesity at the national level was defined as three national weight indicators (national BMI, national percentage of overweight and underweight people) obtained from publicly available databases. Across individuals, greater degree of obesity was associated with weaker implicit negativity toward overweight people compared to thin people. Across nations, in contrast, a greater degree of national obesity was associated with stronger implicit negativity toward overweight people compared to thin people. This result indicates a different relationship between obesity and implicit weight bias at the individual and national levels.

The goal of this article was to show how structural equation modelling associated to multilevel regressions represents a powerful tool to examine innovative cross-cultural research questions. The relationship between values and trust in institutions was investigated in four cross-cultural datasets: three were students and teacher samples; the last was a general sample from the 2005 World Values Survey (WVS). The hypothesis of equivalence of the structure of relations between values and trust in institutions (sinusoid curve hypothesis) was tested with a series of multilevel multiple indicators and multiple causes models with random slopes. Structural equivalence was confirmed for student samples, but not for the general sample. The between-country variance of the relationship between values and trust in the general sample was partially explained by country level differences in socio-economic wealth and quality of governance.

When studying discrimination, it is important to examine both perceived frequency and stress associated with these experiences, as well as the interplay between these two dimensions. Using data from Latino/a participants (N = 168), we found an interaction effect of the reported frequency and reported stressfulness of discrimination on psychological distress (depression and anxiety), such that frequency predicted greater psychological distress for low-stress events, but high-stress events were associated with greater distress regardless of frequency. In addition, using the constructs of “stated” and “derived” stressfulness, we found that the frequency of experiences of discrimination that were rated as less stressful were in fact correlated with greater psychological distress. Discrimination events not experienced as stressful nonetheless may have negative implications for the target, especially if they occur frequently.

The perpetual foreigner stereotype posits that members of ethnic minorities will always be seen as the “other” in the White Anglo-Saxon dominant society of the US (Devos & Banaji, 2005), which may have negative implications for them. The goal of the present research was to determine whether awareness of this perpetual foreigner stereotype predicts identity and psychological adjustment. We conducted a series of studies with 231 Asian Americans and 211 Latino/as (Study 1), 89 African Americans (Study 2), and 56 Asian Americans and 165 Latino/as (Study 3). All participants completed measures of perceived discrimination, awareness of the perpetual foreigner stereotype, conflict between ethnic and national identities, sense of belonging to American culture, and demographics. In Study 3, participants also completed measures of psychological adjustment: depression, hope, and life satisfaction. All participants were students at a large, public university on the West Coast of the US. Across studies, we found that even after controlling for perceived discrimination, awareness of the perpetual foreigner stereotype was a significant predictor of identity conflict and lower sense of belonging to American culture. From Study 3, we also found that, above and beyond perceived discrimination, awareness of the perpetual foreigner stereotype significantly predicted lower hope and life satisfaction for Asian Americans, and that it was a marginal predictor of greater depression for Latino/as. These results suggest that the perpetual foreigner stereotype may play a role in ethnic minority identity and adjustment.

In three studies, implicit and explicit measures were used to examine the interconnections between ethnic and national identities among Latino Americans and Caucasian Americans. Consistently, Latino Americans as a group, were conceived of as being less American than Caucasian Americans (Studies 1-3). This effect was exhibited by both Caucasian and Latino participants. Overall, Caucasian participants displayed a stronger national identification than Latino participants (Studies 2 and 3). In addition, ethnic-American associations accounted for the strength of national identification for Caucasian participants, but not for Latino participants (Study 2). Finally, ethnic differences in national identification among individuals who exclude Latino Americans from the national identity emerged when persistent ethnic disparities were primed, but not when increasing equalities were stressed (Study 3). In sum, ethnic-American associations account for the merging vs. dissociation between ethnic and national identifications and reflect a long-standing ethnic hierarchy in American society.

Implicitly, Americans of several ethnicities associate being American with being White (American = White effect). Three studies investigated the basis for this effect and tested its malleability. We predicted that African Americans would be included into the category American when they were perceived positively, but would be excluded when they were perceived negatively. Experiment 1 showed that subliminal presentation of positive African American stereotypic traits reduced the American = White effect, but that subliminal presentation of negative African American stereotypic traits increased this effect. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that presenting positive African American exemplars decreased the American = White effect, whereas presenting negative African American exemplars increased it. Experiment 2 also revealed that negative African American exemplars (compared to positive African American exemplars) reduced categorization of African Americans as American and that these categorizations accounted for changes in the American = White effect. In Experiment 3, when positive African Americans were presented, Americans (in general) were described as having more positive traits stereotypic of African Americans, but when negative African Americans were presented Americans were described with fewer negative traits stereotypic of African Americans. The results are discussed in terms of the relative inclusion/exclusion of subgroups into a superordinate group.

The goal of the present research was to identify one possible mechanism accounting for the American=White effect. In three experiments, a sequential priming task was used to examine the influence of Asian or White faces on the categorization of American or foreign landmarks. Process dissociation analyses revealed a stronger automatic tendency to respond “American” after White faces than after Asian faces when executive control failed (Experiments 1-3). This effect was not moderated by a manipulation of processing time (Experiment 2), but it was eradicated after completion of a training phase counteracting the American=White linkage (Experiment 3). These findings suggest that the pervasive propensity to equate American with White operates as an automatic accessibility bias.

In the present research, we examined the associations that underlie the orientation of bilingual Latina/o college students toward family and school. Participants completed, in English or in Spanish, three implicit association tests assessing their attitude toward family vs. school, their identification with these concepts, and their self-esteem. Results revealed a more positive attitude toward, and stronger identification with, family than school. Identification with family was stronger among participants who completed the study in English, suggesting self-definition in terms of distinctions from the context. Finally, the more participants valued family over school and identified with family rather than school, the higher their self-esteem. These findings shed light on the subtle, yet crucial, mechanisms by which cultural knowledge is incorporated in the self-concept of bilingual Latina/o college students.

This research examined the extent to which parenthood and college education are incorporated into the self-concept of college students. A U.S. sample of undergraduates (90 men, 87 women) attending a large and ethnically diverse university completed explicit and implicit measures of identification with “parenthood” and “college education,” associations between these concepts and gender categories, and gender identification. Explicitly, men and women identified strongly with college education. Implicitly, women identified equally with parenthood and college education, whereas men identified more strongly with college education. In addition, implicit measures revealed that traditional gender roles accounted for a stronger identification with parenthood for participants who displayed a female identity and a stronger identification with college education for participants who displayed a male identity.

In four studies, we investigated the role of person construal on the implicit ascription of a national identity. Participants completed Implicit Association Tests (Studies 1 & 3) or Go/No-go Association Tasks (Studies 2 & 4) assessing the extent to which the concept American was linked to an Asian American celebrity (Lucy Liu) and to a White European celebrity (Kate Winslet). In contrast to explicit responses, the Asian American target was implicitly regarded as being less American than the White European target. This effect was more pronounced when targets were categorized based on their ethnic (rather than personal) identity (Studies 1 & 2) and when the exemplars draw attention to the ethnic identity of the Asian American target (Studies 3 & 4). These findings provide evidence for the flexibility of construal processes and the role of ethnicity in the implicit ascription of a national identity.

Two studies were conducted to test the hypothesis that identification with academic achievement among Latino college students was related to the extent to which their ethnic group and significant others were linked to academic achievement. Participants completed a series of implicit association tests measuring the interrelations among academic achievement, self, and ethnic groups (Study 1) or significant others (Study 2). Study 1 revealed that the more college students identified with Latinos (relative to Caucasians) and stereotyped Latinos as low academic achievers (relative to Caucasians), the less they identified with academic achievement. Study 2 showed that the more Latino college students identified with significant others and viewed these significant others as high academic achievers, the more they identified with academic achievement. These findings are consistent with principles of cognitive consistency and stress the socio-relational facets of the academic self-concept.

Three studies examined the explicit and implicit self-concepts of college women. Participants completed self-report measures and implicit association tests measuring identification with the concepts “college education” and “motherhood.” Explicitly, participants identified more with college education than with motherhood. Implicitly, however, participants identified more with motherhood than with college education. The dissociation between mean levels of explicit and implicit identifications was more pronounced for students without children than for mothers (Study 2). In line with principles of affective-cognitive consistencies, the more motherhood was linked to the self, the stronger the correlation between attitude toward motherhood and self-esteem (Study 3). The findings show a clear discrepancy between explicit and implicit self-knowledge and reveal that motherhood plays a more important role in the self-concept of undergraduate women than self-reports would suggest.

http://implicit.harvard.edu/ was created to provide experience with the Implicit Association Test (IAT),¬ a procedure designed to measure social knowledge that may operate outside of awareness or control.  Significant byproducts of the Web site’s existence are large datasets contributed to by the site’s many visitors.  This article summarizes data from more than 2.5 million completed IATs and self-reports across 17 topics obtained between July 2000 and May 2006.  In addition to reinforcing several published findings with a heterogeneous sample, the data help to establish that: (a) implicit preferences and stereotypes are pervasive across demographic groups and topics, (b) as with self-report, there is substantial interindividual variability in implicit attitudes and stereotypes, (c) variations in gender, ethnicity, age, and political orientation predict variation in implicit and explicit measures, and (d) implicit and explicit attitudes and stereotypes are related, but distinct.

Contemporary research on ethnic identity, acculturation, and cultural orientation suggests that, at least under some circumstances, individuals can successfully internalize or identify with more than one culture. Previous research on multicultural identity has relied almost exclusively on self-report measures. Using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), the present research examined to what extent Mexican American and Asian American college students identified with American culture and with their culture of origin. Results indicated that Mexican American and Asian American participants strongly and equally identified with both cultures. The present research provides firm evidence for a bicultural identity through assessments of thoughts that cannot be consciously controlled. Patterns of bicultural identification obtained on implicit measures were not the product of deliberate responses to normative demands or conscious attempts to convey a particular self-image.

In six studies, the extent to which American ethnic groups (African, Asian, and White) are associated with the national category “American” was investigated. Although strong explicit commitments to egalitarian principles were expressed (Study 1), each of five subsequent studies consistently revealed that both African and Asian Americans as groups are less associated with the national category “American” than are White Americans (Studies 2-6). Under some circumstances, a complete dissociation between mean levels of explicit beliefs and implicit responses emerged such that an ethnic minority was explicitly regarded to be more American than were White Americans (e.g., African Americans representing the U.S. in Olympic sports), but implicit measures showed the reverse pattern (Studies 3 and 4). In addition, Asian American participants themselves showed the American = White effect, although African Americans did not (Study 5). Importantly, the American = White association predicted the strength of national identity in White Americans: the greater the exclusion of Asian Americans from the category “American,” the greater the identification with being American (Study 6). Together, these studies provide evidence that to be American is implicitly synonymous with being White.

Institutions contribute to maintaining social order and stability in society. At the same time, they restrain the freedom of individuals. Based on the theory of value structure and content (Schwartz, 1992), we hypothesized about the relations of people’s trust in institutions to their value priorities. More precisely, we predicted and found that the level of trust in various institutions correlated positively with values that stress stability, protection, and preservation of traditional practices, and negatively with values that emphasize independent thought and action and favour change. In addition, we demonstrated that groups deŽfined on the basis of religious affiliation or political
orientation exhibited contrasting value priorities on the same bipolar dimension. Moreover, differences in value priorities accounted for the fact that religious individuals and right-wing supporters expressed more trust in institutions than non-religious individuals and left-wing supporters.

Three studies tested the idea that when social identity is salient, group-based appraisals elicit specific emotions and action tendencies toward out-groups. Participants' group memberships were made salient and the collective support apparently enjoyed by the in-group was measured or manipulated. The authors
then measured anger and fear (Studies 1 and 2) and anger and contempt (Study 3), as well as the desire to move against or away from the out-group. Intergroup anger was distinct from intergroup fear, and the inclination to act against the out-group was distinct from the tendency to move away from it. Participants who perceived the in-group as strong were more likely to experience anger toward the out-group and to desire to take action against it. The effects of perceived in-group strength on offensive action tendencies were mediated by anger.