Social scientists Race is a social construction There are no meaningful or important differences between groups that have been called different races Concerns geneticization and increase in racism history and attitudinal research ID: 216702
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Slide1Slide2
Arguments about race
Social scientists
Race is a social construction. There are no meaningful or important differences between groups that have been called different “races.”
Concerns:
geneticization
and increase in racism (history and attitudinal research)
Biological scientists
“Ancestry” is not the same thing as race. Accurate understanding of how genes work will prevent racism.
Concerns:
geneticization
and public (
mis
)understandings of geneticsSlide3
Race, health and genetic variation at the UI
What do “regular” UI experts think race is? Are there disciplinary differences? Biological / social science differences? How do professors / T.A.s teach about race in their classrooms?
What do students think race is? How do they incorporate, or not, what they hear in UI classrooms about race, genes, health disparities, evolution, behavior etc. into their beliefs about race?
Methods
Qualitative: 40
interviews
with sociologists (9), biologists (8), biological anthropologists (10), psychologists (2), and 5-10 undergraduate seniors from each discipline.
Quantitative: Student
survey
assessing (a) genetic / environmental explanations of physical traits, behaviors, health conditions (b) what happens to these explanations when race is a factor.Slide4
The Undergraduate Survey
GOAL 1:
(
i
) Identify the
degree to which
students have
succumbed to
geneticizing
trends. How likely are they, in general, to explain a complex trait or behavior with reference to genes, the focus of biology classes, or to the environment, as emphasized by sociology courses, or (more accurately, in the view of experts) to some combination of the two?
(ii)
W
hat
is the effect of
knowledge about genetics
? Does understanding what genes are, how they function and how they are inherited make a student more or less likely to look to genes when explaining human behavior or group health disparities? Slide5
The Undergraduate Survey
Goal 2
How does
race
(when associated with a trait or behavior)
affect
those explanations. Does the race of an individual displaying a particular trait or behavior affect the extent to which students look to the environment or to genetics to account for it?
(Research shows association between racism and genetic explanations of group differences)Slide6
The Undergraduate Survey
Goal 3
:
Does priming
students to think of reproduction, family and kinship
increase
genetic explanations of behavior and / or produce
higher
measures of racial
prejudice? Slide7
The Undergraduate Survey
For each of the traits or behaviors described in the following questions, please indicate what percent you think is due to the genes a person inherits, and what percent is due to learning, experience, income, education and other aspects of the environment.
21 point scale –
finer grade choice
may help prevent framing genes and environment as mutually exclusive and oppositional.Slide8
Part 1
List of 18 traits.
Physical
traits; height, skin color, freckles and birth weight.
Complex
characteristics; athleticism, intelligence, criminality, drive to succeed, sexual orientation, sexual interest, alcoholism and drug abuse
.
H
ealth
conditions; diabetes, heart disease, lung cancer, sickle-cell anemia, hemophilia, and breast cancerSlide9
Part 2 – Vignettes – 4 versions
Version 1 - Stereotype-challenging
A
middle-aged white man who gets drunk several times a week and often can't remember what happened during these drinking episodes.
A 30 year-old Hispanic woman who is a good all round athlete, was on the high school varsity basketball team at school and still works out several times a week.
A highly intelligent black man who did very well in school and is now a partner in a large law firm.
An Asian-American woman who dropped out of school at 16, was arrested three times before she was 20 and is now serving time in prison.
A 50 year-old white woman who is diagnosed with high blood pressure and at a high risk of suffering a strokeSlide10
Vignettes: Version 3 -Stereotype set
A middle-aged black man who gets drunk several times a week and often can't remember what happened during these drinking episodes
A 30 year-old white woman who is a good all round athlete, was on the high school varsity basketball team at school and still works out several times a week.
A highly intelligent Asian-American man who did very well in school and is now a partner in a large law firm.
A Hispanic woman who dropped out of school at 16, was arrested three times before she was 20 and is now serving time in prison
A 50 year-old black woman who is diagnosed with high blood pressure and a high risk of suffering a stroke.Slide11
Vignettes – 2 Priming Questions
Version 2 (stereotype challenging + priming) and Version 4 (stereotype set + priming)
Inheritance and kinship
Please indicate on the following list who genes are inherited from:
Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, Aunt, Uncle, Grandparent,
Grandparent’s sister,
Grandparent’s brother, Grandparent’s parent.
Reproduction and inheritance - Additional Vignette
“A white / black woman
who had two difficult pregnancies, two premature (early) births and two infants who required intensive medical care after birth.”Slide12
Part 3
B
rief
definitions of concepts
“
a gene,”
“
ancestry”
“evolution”
“Social construction”
Qualitative: The
goal was to probe their understandings of these concepts and to unearth any common misconceptions
.Slide13
Part 4
Demographic
Gender
Age
Race
Political affiliation
Major
Racial attitude question
“How comfortable would you be if a close family member married a person who identifies as (white / African-American / Hispanic / Asian-American / Native American
)”
V. comfortable / somewhat comfortable / somewhat uncomfortable / v. uncomfortableSlide14
Abstract traits – Part 1
Characteristic
Mean Score
Percent due to genes
Skin Color
3.49
87.5 %
Height
4.70
81.5 %
Freckles
5.56
77.5 %
Birth Weight
8.71
61.5 %
Athleticism
10.14
54.5
%
Intelligence
10.56
52.25
%
Alcoholism
11.6946.5 %Drug Abuse13.1939 %Drive to succeed14.8031 %Criminality16.8321 % Sexual Orientation9.2259 %Sexual Interest13.0539.75 % Sickle Cell Anemia4.6182 %Hemophilia4.6581.75 % Heart Disease8.9860 %Diabetes9.3358.5 % Lung Cancer13.2538.75 %Breast Cancer7.5267.5 %
Scores
0 = 100% genetic
6 = 75% genetic
11 = 50% genetic
16 = 25% genetic
21 = 0% geneticSlide15
Vignettes
Alcoholism
BEFORE Abstract
AFTER ->
VERSION
1
White man
VERSION
2
VERSION
3
Black man
VERSION
4
Cumulative
1+2+3+4
Mean:
Variance:
SD:
N:
% students who responded 75% or more genetic 11.6923.044.80527 23% 15.0023.854.88122 12% 14.9122.564.75122 10% 15.2822.274.72127 10% 14.5227.435.24137 10% 14.93
24.03
4.89
527
10.5%Slide16
AlcoholismSlide17
Athleticism
Athleticism
BEFORE
Abstract
AFTER
VERSION
1
Hispanicwoman
VERSION 2
VERSION 3
White
woman
VERSION 4
Cumulative
1+2+3+4
Mean:
Variance:
SD:
N:
% students who responded 75% or more genetic
10.14
19.77
4.45
521
31%
13.7517.294.16122 8%12.9524.304.93122 19%14.2020.374.51127 9%13.7022.834.78137 13%13.65 12.25%Slide18
AthleticismSlide19
Intelligence
Intelligence
BEFORE
Abstract
AFTER
VERSION 1
Black man
VERSION 2
VERSION 3
As-Am man
VERSION 4
Cumulative
1+2+3+4
Mean:
Variance:
SD:
N:
% students who responded 75% or more genetic
10.56
19.68
4.44
525 26%13.6925.355.03121 15%12.6628.265.32121 21%14.0425.025.00127 14%13.5024.494.95137 16%13.47 16.5%Slide20
IntelligenceSlide21
Criminality
Criminality
BEFORE
Abstract
AFTER
VERSION
1
As-Am woman
VERSION 2
VERSION 3
Hispan Woman
VERSION 4
Cumulative
1+2+3+4
Mean:
Variance:
SD:
N:
% students who responded 75% or more genetic
16.83
15.53
3.94
527 2%17.1510.543.25121 1%16.3818.244.27121 4%17.5013.433.66127 4%17.2615.383.92136 6%17.07 3.75%Slide22
CriminalitySlide23
Heart Disease
Heart
Dx
BEFORE
Abstract
AFTER
VERSION 1
VERSION 2
VERSION 3
VERSION 4
Cumulative
1+2+3+4
Mean:
Variance:
SD:
N:
% students who responded 75% or more genetic
8.98
17.12
4.14
525
41%
10.25
22.80
4.77
122 32%9.8822.144.70121 36%9.2820.574.54127 43%9.2022.494.74137 47%9.65 39.5%Slide24
Heart DxSlide25
White – racial attitude Q1Slide26
Questions for consultants
Is the relationship between the vignette question form and the decrease in genetic attributions significant?
Control for gender, political affiliation?
Difference between vignettes – i.e. effect of race and priming. Is there a trend? What sample size would I need if I was to do this again?
Is there a relationship between genetic attributions and genetic knowledge?
Is there a relationship between racial discomfort and genetic attributions? Overall? For each version?