The Effects of Racial Cues on the Attributions of Responsibility

Identifier

22

Author

Erica Nicole Peoples

Date

2014

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Major

Political Science

Committee Chair

Eric Groenendyk

Abstract

This thesis investigates whether race affects attributions of responsibility. College students (N=81) at the University of Memphis (Main Campus and Lambuth Campus) completed a survey experiment in which the name of a character in a vignette was manipulated to suggest that the character was either black or white. Results failed to confirm my initial hypothesis that respondents would be more likely to attribute blame to the individual rather than his circumstances when the individuals name suggested he was black. Nonetheless, the experiment did yield interesting results. Respondents were actually less likely to attribute blame when the character's name suggest he was black and more likely to support that character had been cheated. They also subsequently reported more racially liberal positions on putative policies.

Comments

Undergraduate Honor's Thesis

Library Comment

Honors thesis originally submitted to the Local University of Memphis Honor’s Thesis Repository.

Notes

Data is provided by the student.

Recommended Citation

Peoples, Erica Nicole, "The Effects of Racial Cues on the Attributions of Responsibility" (2014). Honors Theses. 16.
https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/honors_theses/16