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Summer Research Projects

Mary Senyonga

Microaggressions are verbal and nonverbal actions that convey prejudiced views toward a lower-status individual. Social theorists believe that contemporary prejudices, including racism, have taken on a new face and are more likely to be found in covert actions than stark expressions of discrimination including physical assault (Sue, 2010). Microaggressions are often endured by people of color. Sometimes this happens because a desire to preserve the status quo; sometimes it happens because microaggressions can be ambiguous.  Research shows that constant encounters with microaggressions can cause people of color to internalize the negative messages communicated through them and can wreak havoc on their emotional stability and self-esteem (Ortiz & Jani, 2010; Sue, 2010). Creating an environment that is welcoming for people of color starts with teaching others how to acknowledge, recognize, and interrupt microaggressions. Increased empathetic understanding can motivate and prepare participants to take social action in the face of microaggressions. The pedagogy used within Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) courses may facilitate these skills and actions. Research shows that IGD pedagogy activates students’ empathetic understanding through the practice of active listening and perspective taking, readings of historical experiences for differently positioned social groups, conceptual understanding of systems of oppression, and testimonial readings and role-playing exercises. We hypothesized that compared to students who had completed a traditional lecture course on race/ethnicity students who completed a Race IGD would:

• report higher rates of critical and parallel empathy
• identify more strongly with racial identity
• identify a  more complex set of emotions in short vignettes
• recognize and name racial microaggression in short vignettes
• support the need for social action to interrupt the microaggression
• these results would be true for white students and for students of color

43 participants completed an online survey and responded to four racial microaggression vignettes. 6 respondents were eliminated because they had not completed any type of race/ethnicity course. Survey items assessed empathy and racial identity by using valid indexes taken from the Multiversity Intergroup Dialogue measures (Nagda, Gurin, Sorensen, Maxwell, 2010).  Racial microaggression vignettes, developed using the conceptual framework outlined by Sue (2010), included microassaults, microinvalidations, and microinsults.

Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted. Most, but not all data predictions were supported. IGD participants reported greater parallel but not critical empathy, greater racial identification, a richer mix of both positive and negative emotions associated with the microaggressive scenarios, were more likely to name the scenarios as instances of racial microaggressions, and more likely to suggest that action in response to the microaggression was need both as an educational intervention and because of heightened awareness of the lingering effects of microaggression on the target.

These data offer promising support for the power of IGD pedagogy to increase students’ awareness, understanding, and responses to racial microaggressions. However, more data are needed to confirm these results.

Faculty Advisor: Jaclyn Rodriguez

Support provided by: Mary S. Caswell Endowment

 

Attitudes Toward Acquaintance Rape:
The Impact of Social Context & Feminist Consciousness

Marina Rosenthal

This study examined relationships between a non-linear measure of feminism, the Feminist Identity Development Scale (FIDS), and responses to two rape vignettes one depicting a clear rape scenario and the other an ambiguous rape scenario. Dependent measures assessed perceptions of the female’s desire for sex, the male’s intentions, and ideal outcomes for each condition. Two hundred and one female college students completed the FIDS, filler personality inventories, and responded to one rape scenario. ANOVAs revealed main effects for condition and feminist identity, as well as an interaction. Participants in the clear rape condition were more likely to define the scenario as rape than those in the ambiguous condition. Participants who scored higher at Stage 1 of the FIDS model, which assesses passive acceptance of sexist values, were significantly more likely to perceive both the female and male as desiring sex than those who scored lower. Alternately, respondents with higher scores at Stage 5 of the FIDS model, which measures the extent to which individuals are actively committed to social justice, were less likely to report that the female should have behave differently and more likely to report that the male should have behaved differently than low scorers. Feminist Identity also interacted with condition. Individuals who scored high in Stage 5 were less likely to victim blame in the ambiguous rape situation than those who scored low. No differences were evident in the clear rape scenario for high and low scorers at Stage 5. These results suggest that feminist identity influences responses to rape scenarios, both clear and ambiguous, in complicated ways. Rape conditions continue to pose attribution challenges. Future research should explore a broader sample, including males, additional conditions impacting attributions of responsibility, and educational steps to correct misconceptions regarding rape.

Faculty Advisor: Jaclyn Rodriguez

Support provided by: Howard A. and Shirley V. Jones Family Foundation Summer Research Fellowship

 

 

African-American Nomenclature: What we call ourselves and why…

Kenjus Watson

Strong, positive racial identification and group status have been linked to psychological health (Tajfel & Turner, 1986). Racial labels significantly influence the social connotations associated with the groups described. Self-naming is one way that Blacks work to gain a positive racial identity. However, racial labeling has inspired conflict, controversy, and confusion. The evolution of endorsement of African, Colored, Negro, Afro-American, Black, African-American, and Nigger/ Nigga has left Blacks wondering, “What shall we call ourselves?” This study explored patterns of social identification among Blacks to learn a) which social identities are endorsed by group members, 2) whether identities cluster into meaningful dimensions, and 3) how such dimensions relate to age, gender, and one another. Participants were 27 Black individuals from community groups and educational institutions in California. Participants completed a survey assessing endorsement of 39 social categories. A factor analysis produced 6 indexes of racial dimensions: Colorism, Prototypic Power, Historically Significant Naming, Political Resistance, Community Bonds, and Other Social Groups. Results show that Black identity is multidimensional, encompassing political, economic, and religious themes; that Community Bonds and Political Resistance indexes are significantly positively related (p<. 03); that Historically Significant Naming and Prototypic Power are marginally related (p<.08); that the participants ranging in age 24-39 are significantly more likely to identify with labels that denote Political Resistance than participants over 40 (p<.02); and that despite not identifying with labels from other ethnic groups, participants did identity with broad status labels (such as Minority, Person of Color, Underrepresented). Further work will explore the bases of these patterns.

Faculty Advisor: Jaclyn Rodriguez

Support provided by: Virginia Reid Moore Fellowship

 

The Potential of Interactional Diversity:
Outcomes Related to Oxy’s Intergroup Dialogue Program

Andrea Rodriguez-Scheel

Challenges posed by an increasingly diverse society have prompted institutions of higher learning to develop co-curricular initiatives that maximize diversity engagement, understanding, and value. This study explored the impact of one such initiative, an Intergroup Dialogue Program, to learn how structured contact between two groups with a history of conflict influenced intergroup attitudes. Participants were 34 full time undergraduates enrolled in an intergroup dialogue class during the 2003-2004 academic year (17 White, 17 Non-white). Participants voluntarily completed a “Student Learning Questionnaire” during the first and last weeks of the program. Indexes formed to measure social identity, comfort with intergroup discussions about social issues and emotional responses to intergroup conflict were analyzed using mixed design ANOVAs (race x time). Main effects for time showed that participants were more aware of their own and others’ social identities, attached greater importance to multiple social identity, expressed greater comfort discussing social issues, and indicated more positive and fewer negative emotions about engaging in constructive conflict at the end of the semester. Main effects for race show participants of color are more aware of their social identities and more comfortable engaging in broader perspectives. These preliminary findings offer support for productive intergroup relations based on acknowledging and valuing difference rather ignoring it. The implications of dialogic diversity initiatives for inclusive democracy are discussed.

Faculty Advisor: Jaclyn Rodriguez

Support provided by: Ford Foundation Research Fellowship