Papers by Deborah Son Holoien
Accurately perceiving whether interaction partners feel understood is important for developing in... more Accurately perceiving whether interaction partners feel understood is important for developing intimate relationships and maintaining smooth interpersonal exchanges. During interracial interactions, when are Whites and racial minorities likely to accurately perceive how understood cross-race partners feel? We propose that participant race, desire to affiliate, and racial salience moderate accuracy in interracial interactions. Examination of cross-race roommates (Study 1) and interracial interactions with strangers (Study 2) revealed that when race is salient, Whites higher in desire to affiliate with racial minorities failed to accurately perceive the extent to which racial minority partners felt understood. Thus, although the desire to affiliate may appear beneficial, it may interfere with Whites’ ability to accurately perceive how understood racial minorities feel. By contrast, racial minorities higher in desire to affiliate with Whites accurately perceived how understood White partners felt. Furthermore, participants’ overestimation of how well they understood partners correlated negatively with partners’ reports of relationship quality. Collectively, these findings indicate that racial salience and desire to affiliate moderate accurate perceptions of cross-race partners—even in the context of sustained interracial relationships—yielding divergent outcomes for Whites and racial minorities.
The compensation effect demonstrates a negative relationship between the dimensions of warmth and... more The compensation effect demonstrates a negative relationship between the dimensions of warmth and competence in impression formation in comparative contexts. However, does compensation between warmth and competence extend to impression management? Two studies examined whether people actively downplay their warmth in order to appear competent and downplay their competence in order to appear warm. In Studies 1a and 1b, participants selected words pretested to be high or low in warmth and competence to include in an e-mail message to people they wanted to impress. As predicted, participants downplayed their competence when they wanted to appear warm (Study 1a) and downplayed their warmth when they wanted to appear competent (Study 1b). In Studies 2a and 2b, compensation also occurred when participants introduced themselves to another person, as evidenced by the questions they selected to answer about themselves, their self-reported goals, and their open-ended introductions. Compensation occurred uniquely between warmth and competence and not for other dimensions, such as healthiness (Study 2a) and political interest (Study 2b), which suggests that the compensation effect extends beyond a mere zero-sum exchange between dimensions.► Compensation between warmth and competence occurs in impression management. ► People who want to appear warm (vs. control group) downplay their competence. ► People who want to appear competent (vs. control group) downplay their warmth. ► Compensation does not extend to other dimensions (health, political interest).
The present research examined the intrapersonal consequences that Asian Americans experience as a... more The present research examined the intrapersonal consequences that Asian Americans experience as a result of their concerns about appearing highly intelligent, a positive stereotype associated with their racial group. A daily diary study of Asian-American college students (N ϭ 47) revealed that higher levels of stigma consciousness were associated with greater anxiety, contact avoidance, perceived need to change to fit in with a roommate, and concerns about being viewed as intelligent for Asian Americans living with a European-American (vs. racial minority) roommate. Further, among Asian Americans with a European-American roommate, concerns about appearing intelligent partially mediated the relationships between stigma consciousness and the outcomes of anxiety and perceived need to change to fit in. In sum, these findings demonstrate that positive stereotypes about the group-not just negative stereotypes-may lead to undesirable intrapersonal outcomes.
Research on social stigma and disadvantage has flourished in the past two decades. The authors hi... more Research on social stigma and disadvantage has flourished in the past two decades. The authors highlight the theoretical and methodological advancements that have been made, such as how experience sampling procedures and neuroscience have shed light on processes associated with social stigma. Finally, the authors discuss policy implications of historical and contemporary research on social stigma and disadvantage, as well as address ideas for future research that may be useful in creating policies and programs that promote social equality.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Jan 1, 2011
This study examined how priming Whites with colorblind or multicultural approaches to diversity p... more This study examined how priming Whites with colorblind or multicultural approaches to diversity prior to an interracial interaction affects ethnic minorities' cognitive functioning. Although ethnic minorities did not explicitly know which prime their White partner received, ethnic minorities paired with Whites primed with colorblindness (vs. multiculturalism) showed poorer cognitive performance on the Stroop (1935) color-naming task following the interaction. Furthermore, Whites in interracial interactions primed with colorblindness exhibited more behavioral prejudice, which mediated ethnic minorities' decreased cognitive performance. These findings suggest that Whites' exposure to certain ideologies may affect the cognitive performance of the ethnic minorities they encounter.
Personality and Social …, Jan 1, 2009
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Papers by Deborah Son Holoien