Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 7, 2025

Post-Movie Subliminal Measurement PMSM, for Investigating Implicit Social Bias
Published on: February 29, 2020
The causal effect of skin color bias in online dating
1Texas A&M University, Department of Sociology, Liberal Arts Social Sciences Building (LASB), 4351 TAMU, 2935 Research Parkway, Office #380, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
Abstract:
Despite the expansive literature on U.S. ethnoracial relations, issues such as reliance on observational data and inconsistent measures of skin color limit the research on skin color stratification and cross-ethnoracial relationships. These issues hinder researchers' capacity to disentangle the causal effect of colorism in perpetuating discrepancies within intergroup relationships, specifically within the context of online dating, a popular form of modern dating. In May-June 2021, I fielded a survey experiment that features online dating profiles of Black daters in which skin tone is the treatment. While the multivariate analyses show no statistically significant differences between light- and medium-toned daters, profiles featuring dark-skinned daters consistently receive a penalty in comparison to profiles of light- and medium-skinned people. The results suggest that colorism can have a direct impact on how dark-skinned Black people navigate their romantic lives, independent of other influential factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, social networks, etc.).
Related Concept Videos
Relationship Formation
Confirmation Biases
Cause and Effect
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Surveys
Pigmentation
Melanin occurs in two primary forms: eumelanin that provides black and brown pigment and pheomelanin that provides red color. Dark-skinned individuals produce more melanin than those with pale...

