Racial attribution effects on clinical judgment: a failure to replicate among white clinicians

The case profile of a young male community outpatient that had elicited racial expectancies from black clinicians was shown to a demographically similar sample of white clinicians. Manipulation of his racial attribution failed to influence impressions of psychobehavioral adjustment or therapeutic recommendations. In addition, the overall ratings given by the white assessors were more lenient than those given by the black assessors. The notion that white clinicians' evaluations of black patients are poorly insulated from the racial prejudices of the larger society continues to run counter to mounting experimental evidence. Its persistence in the absence of such confirmation is discussed in terms of the low credibility of analogue methodology in relation to personal conviction.