Are We Born Racist?

Inside the science of prejudice, stigma, and intergroup relations.

by Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, Ph.D.

The Dependency Paradox: Why People Are Not Like Feet

According to what I call the "plantar theory of human nature," people are like feet. The foot that is always protected by cushioned sneakers will never develop a layer of hard skin. It will only lead to a need for more cushioning. How accurate is this intuitive theory? Read More

The Precarious Couple Effect

Research shows that certain types of couples don’t work very well together. Precarious couples are the specific combination of a quiet, verbally inhibited man with a verbally disinhibited but highly critical woman. Part II of the series “When Not to Trust an Intuition of Compatibility” Read More

The Unfair Self-Esteem Trap Faced by Minority Students

A 2005 documentary by Kiri Davis, A Girl Like Me, replicates a famous study showing young African American children preferring to play with White rather than Black dolls. What are the implications for minority self-esteem and education? Read More

Cultural Stereotypes, or National Character?

Is there really something to the impression that the French are different from Americans, who are different from, say, the Thai? Or do these impressions only amount to so many caricatures? Read More

Writers, and Parents: Show, Don't Tell

One of the cardinal rules of writing is this: Show, Don't Tell. My 6-year old teaches me a valuable lesson in applying this rule not just to writing, but to parenting as well. Read More

Sculpt Your Partner: Be Like Mike (Michaelangelo)

Researchers have described the Michaelangelo Phenomenon as one in which relationships grow by having one partner "sculpt" the other. But it's not about shaping your partner according to the vision of who you want them to be. Read More

Star-Crossed Lovers: When NOT to Trust an Intuition of Compatibility

Think of how you might react to an online dating profile that said this: "I will treat you like you are God until you break my trust and then you are just another person…. warning ahead, I do have a very bad temper…. I do admit I will get jealous if you are always going over to one of your guy' friend's house…." Read More

When Making Impressions, Mind Your (Other Party's) Manners

When we want to make a good impression, one of the most common mistakes we make is to forget the central role that the other party has in shaping our behavior. We become so preoccupied with what we should or should not do to that we easily forget the importance of the other—the job interviewer, our date, our partner's parents—in shaping their impression of us. Read More

How Subtle Discrimination Affects Targets II: American as Apple Pie

Prejudice and discrimination do not have to be blatant or extreme to affect people. In this post, I explore how subtle comments about whether one belongs can affect behavior in ways that wouldn't be obvious. Are American minorities more likely to choose the greasy burger and fries when people question whether they are "really" American? Read More

Perfect for Me: How to Idealize Your Partner for Relationship Health

Nobody's perfect, and conventional wisdom would hold that entering marriage starry-eyed and blind to your partner's weaknesses only foreshadows future disappointment and relationship trouble. Does our intuition match the research on partner idealization? Read More

Does White Identity Predict Positive or Negative Attitudes Towards Diversity?

In recent years, research on White identity has gained traction in the psychological literature, as researchers and clinicians have grown to realize that this group also struggles with questions such as, "what does it mean to be White in my culture," and "what does being White mean to me?" Read More

Would You Be Nice to a Chauvinist Pig?

Imagine you are in a meeting at school or at work, and someone blurts out a clearly chauvinist or bigoted remark. Ask yourself: how would you respond? Would you put them in their place, or would you be too nice to confront? Read More

Jeremy Lin and Racism: How Subtle Discrimination Affects Targets

In last week's post, I compared Jeremy Lin to Jackie Robinson. One reader, Angela, astutely pointed out that the analogy is problematic: "There was an actual structure preventing such players from participating, a structure that doesn't exist for Asians or Asian-Americans today... Lin [is] not breaking a barrier." Does this make Lin's journey less significant? Read More

Is Jeremy Lin Like Jackie Robinson?

As a student of stereotypes and intergroup relations, the Jeremy Lin phenomenon makes me wonder whether Lin has opened the door for Asian American athletes to finally stop being overlooked in American sports, much in the same way that Jackie Robinson did for African American athletes. There is reason for both gloom and hope. Read More

How to Give Support Right

Providing support to someone, while usually well-intentioned, can make the person getting the support feel incompetent and burdensome. Niall Bolger and his colleagues have investigated whether are there different types of support that are associated with positive vs. negative outcomes. Read More

Is It Best to Be Greedy in Tough Economic Times?

There's a certain logic to the idea that greed is good when resources are scarce: when there's not a lot to go around, what could be better than hogging the goods for oneself to ensure one's survival? Researchers at Berkeley have an answer. Read More

Got Goals? Maximize Your Success in Achieving Them

1) Watch less TV. 2) Eat your veggies. How many of us have New Year's resolutions posted on the mirror or the fridge that look like that? They seem like perfectly reasonable to-do lists, and at least they help us keep the goal in mind. But you can do better. Here's how. Read More

After a Diet, Your Body Remains Addicted to Food

A recent news article about dieting was a revelation for me as to why I sometimes feel like I'm addicted to food. The article emphasizes what many of us chronic dieters already know – after you have lost weight on a diet, your body actively fights you, through both hormones and brain activity, to put that weight back on. Is there a way out? Read More

What Bankruptcy and Racial Bias Mean for the Presidential Election

A new study shows that lawyers are more likely to steer black debtors filing for bankruptcy towards chapter 13, and others towards the more lenient chapter 7. But because we do not have a critical mass of black versus white U.S. Presidents, we cannot argue with certainty that negative behavior directed at the president is racially motivated. Read More

Steve Jobs: "We're Just One World Now'

Along with half the world, it seems, I picked up Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs this winter break. I never expected him to talk about Turkey, where I happen to be stationed for the next seven months. An unexpected chance to think about his impressions of Istanbul, in Istanbul, emerged. Read More

Stereotypes Are Tools That Can Shape Others' Outcomes

The simultaneous potential and danger of expectations lies in the fact they are about people, these expectations have the power to shape their outcomes. Read More

A Vicarious Shame: The Resignation of Yale's Football Coach

The resignation of Yale's Head Football Coach Tom Williams grabbed my eye yesterday. Like many, I suspect, my assumption was that this would be a salacious sports coaching story, like the Penn State or Syracuse stories. But I was wrong. Read More

Resolved: Find Yourself Some Trouble

I once heard that problems need to be understood in the context of development. Sometimes have to remind myself of this when my kids experience emotional extremes over small things. The other morning, I asked my son to put on his socks and shoes while I dressed his little brother. Five minutes later, he threw the socks across the room and started crying. Read More

Racism Against Whites vs. Minorities: Is It the Same Thing?

No one group has a monopoly on discrimination—either dishing it out, or being the target of it. However, we need to get straight what we can—and cannot—equate when we compare discrimination against whites vs. minorities. Co-authored with Victoria Plaut, assistant professor of Law, UC Berkeley. Read More

What Do We Make of Police Violence in Student and Civilian Protests?

By guest blogger Ricardo Mendoza Lepe: In the wake of the Occupy Wall-Street (OWS) movement, there has been a lot of criticism of police beatings of students and civilians. Thanks to technology, videos can be seen all over the Internet about of police officers beating and pepper-spraying protesters. As we watch in horror.... Read More

Do Standardized Tests Predict Your Future Success?

Gender and racial gaps continue to plague standardized tests, yet many schools strongly emphasize these scores in their admissions processes. This means that if you're a woman or a minority student, you're immediately at a disadvantage in gaining access to many programs. A solution, though, is in sight. Read More

What Would You Do if You Were Witness to Child Abuse?

Mike McQueary, one of the central figures in the Penn State scandal, has been vilified for not going to the police directly after walking in on child abuse in the locker rooms of Penn State. He should have acted differently, we scorn, thinking: I would have acted differently. Think again. Read More

Subtle Stereotypes and Their Negative Effects on Targets

At the end of "The Terminator," we meet a scrawny Mexican boy who can barely speak, who hustles American tourists for money, and who is beaten by his father. As a scrawny Mexican boy myself, this image ruined my evening while my friends hooted about the killer ending of the movie. Read More

A Meditation on Life After a Mother's Death

"Here," my mom's oncologist said, handing me a thumb-sized vial of her spinal fluid, "take this down the street for analysis." There was nothing I wouldn't have done for my mom that day, even as I knew that the spinal fluid analysis would only confirm that her cancer had spread to her brain and there was nothing left for us to do. Read More

Curbing LBGT Teen Bullying: Neutrality Is Not an Option

By guest blogger James Telesford: The bullying of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT) teenagers is severe problem. In fact, in response to 7 bully-related teenage suicides within a year and a half, two school districts in Minnesota have implemented opposing policies to prevent more suicides. What are the implications? Read More