1、Obamas success isnt all good news for black AmericansAs Erin White watched the election results head towards victory for Barack Obama, she felt a burden lifting from her shoulders. In that one second, it was a validation for my whole race, she recalls.Ive always been an achiever, says White, who is
2、studying for an MBA at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. But there had always been these things in the back of my mind questioning whether I really can be who I want. It was like a shadow, following me around saying you can only go so far. Now its like a barrier has been let down.Whites
3、 experience is what many psychologists had expected - that Obama would prove to be a powerful role model for African Americans. Some hoped his rise to prominence would have a big impact on white Americans, too, challenging those who still harbour racist sentiments. The traits that characterise him a
4、re very contradictory to the racial stereotypes that black people are aggressive and uneducated, says Ashby Plant of Florida State University. Hes very intelligent and eloquent.Sting in the tailAshby Plant is one of a number of psychologists who seized on Obamas candidacy to test hypotheses about th
5、e power of role models. Their work is already starting to reveal how the Obama effect is changing peoples views and behaviour. Perhaps surprisingly, it is not all good news: there is a sting in the tail of the Obama effect.But first the good news. Barack Obama really is a positive role model for Afr
6、ican Americans, and he was making an impact even before he got to the White House. Indeed, the Obama effect can be surprisingly immediate and powerful, as Ray Friedman of Vanderbilt University and his colleagues discovered.They tested four separate groups at four key stages of Obamas presidential ca
7、mpaign. Each group consisted of around 120 adults of similar age and education, and the test assessed their language skills. At two of these stages, when Obamas success was less than certain, the tests showed a clear difference between the scores of the white and black participantsan average of 12.1
8、 out of 20, compared to 8.8, for example. When the Obama fever was at its height, however, the black participants performed much better. Those who had watched Obamas acceptance speech as the Democrats presidential candidate performed just as well, on average, as the white subjects.After his election
9、 victory, this was true of all the black participants.Dramatic shiftWhat can explain this dramatic shift? At the start of the test, the participants had to declare their race and were told their results would be used to assess their strengths and weaknesses. This should have primed the subjects with
10、 stereotype threat an anxiety that their results will confirm negative stereotypes, which has been shown to damage the performance of African Americans.s successes seemed to act as a shield against this. We suspect they felt inspired and energised by his victory, so the stereotype threat wouldnt pro
11、ve a distraction, says Friedman.Lingering racismIf the Obama effect is positive for African Americans, how is it affecting their white compatriots (同胞)? Is the experience of having a charismatic (有魅力的) black president modifying lingering racist attitudes? There is no easy way to measure racism direc
12、tly; instead psychologists assess what is known as implicit bias, using a computer-based test that measures how quickly people associate positive and negative wordssuch as love or evilwith photos of black or white faces. A similar test can also measure how quickly subjects associate stereotypical tr
13、aitssuch as athletic skills or mental abilitywith a particular group.In a study that will appear in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Plants team tested 229 students during the height of the Obama fever. They found that implicit bias has fallen by as much as 90% compared with the level
14、found in a similar study in 2006. Thats an unusually large drop, Plant says.While the team cant be sure their results are due solely to Obama, they also showed that those with the lowest bias were likely to subconsciously associate black skin colour with political words such as governmentpresident.
15、This suggests that Obama was strongly on their mind, says Plant.Drop in biasBrian Nosek of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, who runs a website that measures implicit bias using similar test, has also observed a small drop in bias in the 700,000 visitors to the site since January 2007,
16、which might be explained by Obamas rise to popularity. However, his preliminary results suggest that change will be much slower coming than Plants results suggest.Talking honestlyPeople now have the opportunity of expressing support for Obama every day, says Daniel Effron at Stanford University in C
17、alifornia. Our research arouses the concern that people may now be more likely to raise negative views of African Americans. On the other hand, he says, it may just encourage people to talk more honestly about their feelings regarding race issues, which may not be such a bad thing.Another part of th
18、e study suggests far more is at stake than the mere expression of views. The Obama effect may have a negative side. Just one week after Obama was elected president, participants were less ready to support policies designed to address racial inequality than they had been two weeks before the election
19、.Huge obstaclesIt could, of course, also be that Obamas success helps people to forget that a disproportionate number of black Americans still live in poverty and face huge obstacles when trying to overcome these circumstances. Barack Obamas family is such a salient (出色的) image, we generalise it and
20、 fail to see the larger picturethat theres injustice in every aspect of American life, says Cheryl Kaiser of the University of Washington in Seattle. Those trying to address issues of racial inequality need to constantly remind people of the inequalities that still exist to counteract the Obamas eff
21、ect, she says.Though Plants findings were more positive, she too warns against thinking that racism and racial inequalities are no longer a problem. The last thing I want is for people to think everythings solved.These findings do not only apply to Obama, or even just to race. They should hold for a
22、ny role model in any country. Theres no reason we wouldnt have seen the same effect on our views of women if Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin had been elected, says Effron. So the election of a female leader might have a downside for other women.Beyond raceWe also dont yet know how long the Obama effe
23、ctboth its good side and its badwill last.Political sentiment is notoriously changeable: What if things begin to go wrong for Obama, and his popularity slumps?And what if Americans become so familiar with having Obama as their president that they stop considering his race altogether? Over time he mi
24、ght become his own entity, says Plant. This might seem like the ultimate defeat for racism, but ignoring the race of certain select individualsa phenomenon that psychologists call subtypingalso has an insidious (隐伏的) side. We think it happens to help people preserve their beliefs, so they can still
25、hold on to the previous stereotypes. That could turn out to be the cruellest of all the twists to the Obama effect注意:此部分试题请在答题卡1上作答。1. How did Erin White feel upon seeing Barack Obamas victory in the electionA) Excited. B) Victorious. C) Anxious. D) Relieved2. Before the election, Erin White has bee
26、n haunted by the question of whether _. A) she could obtain her MBA degree B) she could go as far as she wanted in life C) she was overshadowed by her white peers D) she was really an achiever as a student 3. What is the focus of Ashby Plants study? A) Racist sentiments in America. B) The power of r
27、ole models. C) Personality traits of successful blacks.D) The dual character of African Americans.4. In their experiments, Ray Friedman and his colleagues found that _.A) blacks and whites behaved differently during the electionB) whites attitude towards blacks has dramatically changedC) Obamas election has eliminated the prejudice against blacksD) Obamas success impacted blacks performance in language tests5. What do Brian Noseks preliminary results
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