Blood Quantum and Perceptions of Black-White Biracial Targets: The Black Ancestry Prototype Model of Affirmative Action

Blood Quantum and Perceptions of Black-White Biracial Targets: The Black Ancestry Prototype Model of Affirmative Action

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
Volume 37, Number 1
(January 2011)
pages 3-14
DOI: 10.1177/0146167210389473

Diana T. Sanchez, Associate Professor of Psychology
Rutgers University

Jessica J. Good, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina

George F. Chavez
Department of Psychology
Rutgers University

The present study examined the causal role of amount of Black ancestry in targets’ perceived fit with Black prototypes and perceivers’ categorization of biracial targets. Greater Black ancestry increased the likelihood that perceivers categorized biracial targets as Black and perceived targets as fitting Black prototypes (e.g., experiencing racial discrimination, possessing stereotypic traits). These results persisted, controlling for perceptions of phenotype that stem from ancestry information. Perceivers’ beliefs about how society would categorize the biracial targets predicted perceptions of discrimination, whereas perceivers’ beliefs about the targets’ self-categorization predicted trait perceptions. The results of this study support the Black ancestry prototype model of affirmative action, which reveals the downstream consequences of Black ancestry for the distribution of minority resources (e.g., affirmative action) to biracial targets.

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