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Abstract
A limited amount of social psychological research on racial stereotyping and prejudice of Black Americans have considered the role of gender in these processes. Such is also the case with research on racial phenotypicality bias (Maddox, 2004)—the notion that within racial group variation in features indicative of race can result in increased stereotyping of group members with more of these features relative to group members with fewer of these features. This dissertation addresses a void in racial phenotypicality bias research by assessing stereotypic perceptions of Black women as a function of racial phenotypes (Afrocenrtric features). In line with previous evidence of racial phenotypicality bias toward Black men, I hypothesized that high Afrocentric Black women would be stereotyped to a greater degree than low Afrocentric Black women. In Experiment 1 participants evaluated the likelihood that several traits and behaviors stereotypic of Blacks as a racial group were characteristic of Black female targets varying in Afrocentricity. Analyses revealed relatively similar levels of stereotyping of high and low Afrocentric Black women, providing inconclusive evidence of racial phenotypicality bias toward Black women. Experiments 2 and 3 address the potential insensitivity of the measure used in Experiment 1 to assess stereotypic evaluations of Black women by identifying stereotypes associated with Black women specifically (Experiment 2) and reexaming racially phenotypicality bias toward Black women in light of these stereotypes (Experiment 3). Akin to Experiment 1, results of Experiment 3 provided inconsistent evidence of racial phenotypicality bias toward Black women, suggesting that racial phenotypes may not influence perceptions of Black women and Black men in the same manner. Theoretical considerations for the intersectional influence of racial phenotypes and gender on perceptions of Black women are addressed in the general discussion.