View From the Right: Political Orientation and the Association Between Black and Physical Threat

Americans hold an association linking Black with physical threat. Across domains, conservatives tend to be more threat sensitive. The current research tests whether associations linking Black to physical threat are associated with political conservatism. Pilot studies clarify that conservatism is associated with physical versus other types of threats (e.g., symbolic, distinctiveness). In Study 1, conservatism corresponds with stronger perceptions of physical threat of unambiguously Black stimuli. In Study 2, conservatism was linked to a stronger association between perceiving point-light walkers as physical threats and as Black versus White. In Study 3, conservatism was linked to a stronger association between perceiving names as physical threats and as Black versus White. In Study 4, conservatism was associated with a stronger automatic Black-threat association, and this relationship mediated the link between conservatism and an automatic Black-criminal association. Consequently, anti-Black attitudes among relative conservatives may be partially underlaid by associations linking Black to physical threat.