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Abstract. What people say and what they feel subconsciously can diverge,
especially in the area of race and politics (Anderson et al. 1988, Fazio et al. 1995,
Kuklinski et al. 1997). Such social desirability effects are frequently attributed to
self-monitoring (Snyder and Gangestad 1986, Terkildsen 1993, Berinsky 2004,
Feldman and Huddy 2005). The finding is generally that white respondents who
score high on the self-monitoring scale express more favorable views of African
Americans when they are in a social setting where they perceive racially tolerant
views as socially desirable. This study suggests that there may be a social norm that
leads people to understate rather than overstate their feelings of closeness towards
other racial or ethnic outgroups (‘Norm of Ingroup Favoritism’)
By measuring feelings of closeness towards different racial groups both on the
implicit and explicit levels, this study applies a more direct approach to the
investigation of social desirability effects than traditional approaches such as
Kuklinski’s et al. (1997) list experiment or Snyder and Gangestad’s (1986)
Self-Monitoring Scale. On the implicit level, closeness towards a racial group is
measured using a reaction time based measure of cognitive overlap developed by
Aron et al. (1991). On the explicit level, closeness is measured using standard
survey questions. Both forms of closeness are highly predictive of political
opinions on race related policy positions but dramatic discrepancies between the
two measures emerge. Interestingly, the pro-Black effect of ‘political correctness’
is dwarfed by the effect of the older Norm of Ingroup Favoritism. A simulation
study based on observed discrepancies between implicit and explicit feelings of
closeness suggests that support for affirmative action may increase by as much as
15 percent if the Norm of Ingroup Favoritism would be fully replaced by a new
pro-Black norm. By suggesting that ingroup favoritism represents a social norm
rather than a natural predisposition this study draws optimistic conclusions about
the feasibility of interracial solidarity. This optimism is based on the idea that it
may be easier to change a social norm than to change human nature. Challenging
the Norm of Ingroup Favoritism may help to increase political support for minority
groups regardless of an individual’s own group membership.
Convention