Unobtrusively Measuring Racial Attitudes: The Consequences of Social Desirability Effects
Cobb, Michael David
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/82549
Description
Title
Unobtrusively Measuring Racial Attitudes: The Consequences of Social Desirability Effects
Author(s)
Cobb, Michael David
Issue Date
2001
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
James H. Kuklinksi
Department of Study
Political Science
Discipline
Political Science
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Psychology, Social
Language
eng
Abstract
Subsequently, I introduce an unobtrusive measurement technique that minimizes the external motivation of respondents to provide socially desirable responses. I also provide evidence from two less obtrusive priming experiments testing the hypothesis that traditional measures of racial attitudes produce erroneous conclusions not just about the descriptive nature of whites' racial attitudes but also about their correlates and consequences. In one of these chapters, I present evidence suggesting that social desirability effects are the reason most previous studies failed to find a relationship between symbolic racism and individualism. In the other, I investigate the connection between whites' racial attitudes and their beliefs about crime and punishment, demonstrating that a significant relationship exists between them, one that often goes undetected when these attitudes are measured obtrusively.
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