Is Kate Winslet more American than Lucy Liu? The impact of construal processes on the implicit ascription of a national identity
Corresponding Author
Thierry Devos
Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Thierry Devos, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-4611, USA ([email protected]).Search for more papers by this authorDebbie S. Ma
Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Thierry Devos
Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr Thierry Devos, Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, 5500 Campanile Drive, San Diego, CA 92182-4611, USA ([email protected]).Search for more papers by this authorDebbie S. Ma
Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
In four studies, we investigated the role of person construal on the implicit ascription of a national identity. Participants completed Implicit Association Tests (Studies 1 and 3) or Go/No-go Association Tasks (Studies 2 and 4) assessing the extent to which the concept American was linked to an Asian American celebrity (Lucy Liu) and to a White European celebrity (Kate Winslet). In contrast to explicit responses, the Asian American target was implicitly regarded as being less American than the White European target. This effect was more pronounced when targets were categorized based on their ethnic (rather than personal) identity (Studies 1 and 2) and when the exemplars draw attention to the ethnic identity of the Asian American target (Studies 3 and 4). These findings provide evidence for the flexibility of construal processes and the role of ethnicity in the implicit ascription of a national identity.
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