Radical stereotyping and social rejection

Melissa Williams, assistance professor of organization and management, et al. conducted three experiments to test their hypothesis that people perceived to have a more racially stereotypical appearance will experience greater social rejection from outgroup members than will those judged to be less racially stereotypical. In their examination of social decision making in two real-life communities (Facebook and a college dormitory), the researchers find that negative social outcomes are indeed experienced to unequal degrees by members of the same minority group. This means that more racially stereotypical minorities experience feature-based as well as category-based discrimination. The findings suggest a self-perpetuating cycle of intergroup avoidance and segregation, with negative consequences that include minorities’ reduced access to valuable social networks that enhance prospects for hiring and promotion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology (2012).