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Symbol of Hate Or Pride: the Ironic Effect of Exposure to the Confederate Flag on Judgment and Behavior Corey Columb

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Symbol of Hate Or Pride: the Ironic Effect of Exposure to the Confederate Flag on Judgment and Behavior Corey Columb Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2010 Symbol of Hate or Pride: The Ironic Effect of Exposure to the Confederate Flag on Judgment and Behavior Corey Columb Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES SYMBOL OF HATE OR PRIDE: THE IRONIC EFFECT OF EXPOSURE TO THE CONFEDERATE FLAG ON JUDGMENT AND BEHAVIOR By COREY COLUMB A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2010 The members of the Committee approve the Thesis of Corey Columb defended on October 19th, 2010. __________________________ Joyce Ehrlinger Professor Directing Thesis __________________________ Ashby Plant Committee Member __________________________ Chris Schatschneider Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above named committee members. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author thanks E. Ashby Plant, Jonathan Kunstman, and Joanna Goplen for their assistance with the execution of the experiments and his advisor, Joyce Ehrlinger, for her mentorship and guidance throughout the project. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................... vi Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................ vii 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Priming and Confederate flag exposure .................................................................................... 1 1.2 Current Research ....................................................................................................................... 3 2. STUDY ONE........................................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Method ...................................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 5 2.3 Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 5 3. STUDY TWO .......................................................................................................................................... 6 3.1 Method ...................................................................................................................................... 7 3.2 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 7 3.3 Discussion .................................................................................................................................. 8 4. GENERAL DISCUSSION ......................................................................................................................... 9 5. APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................................... 11 A Judgment task vignette ........................................................................................................... 11 B List of traits on judgment task ................................................................................................. 12 C IRB Approval Form ................................................................................................................... 13 D Informed Consent Form .......................................................................................................... 15 E Table 1 ..................................................................................................................................... 15 F Table 2 ..................................................................................................................................... 15 G Figure 1 .................................................................................................................................... 15 H Figure 2 .................................................................................................................................... 15 I Figure 3 .................................................................................................................................... 15 J Figure 4 .................................................................................................................................... 15 6. REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................................... 17 7. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...................................................................................................................... 19 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Means and SD on Judgment Negativity by Flag Priming Condition ................................ 19 Table 2: Means and SD for Noise Blast intensity by Flag Priming Condition ................................ 20 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Negativity of Racist Symbol (RST) and Southern Symbol Theorists’ (SST) judgments of a Black target after exposure to either the Confederate Flag or a Control Symbol .................. 21 Figure 2: Negativity of Racist Symbol (RST) and Southern Symbol Theorists’ (SST) judgments of a White target after exposure to either the Confederate Flag or a Control Symbol ................. 22 Figure 3: Racist Symbol Theorists (RST) and Southern Symbol Theorists (SST) noise blast intensity for a Black target after exposure to either the Confederate flag or a Control symbol ... 23 Figure 4: Racist Symbol Theorists (RST) and Southern Symbol Theorists (SST) noise blast intensity for a White target after exposure to either the Confederate flag or a Control symbol ... 24 vi ABSTRACT The Confederate flag is a symbol rich with meaning. While public debate has focused largely on which perception of the Confederate flag is the most appropriate, it is equally important to understand the consequences of being exposed to this symbol. We predict that exposure to the Confederate flag is likely to lead individuals who associate the flag with racism to engage in more negative judgments of and behavior toward Black targets than peers not exposed to the flag. In contrast, those who view the flag as a symbol of the South should show little to no effect of exposure to the Confederate flag on judgment of and behavior toward Blacks. In study one, participants then made judgments of either a Black or a White male after reading a short story about him. For those who believe the flag is a symbol of racism, exposure to the Confederate flag increased negative judgments toward a Black person, compared to those who believe it is a symbol of the South and were exposed to the flag and those in both groups exposed to a neutral symbol. Study two served as a replication and extension in which we easured partiipats aggressio toard a purportedl Blak or White parter through oise last task. For those who believe the flag is a symbol of racism, being exposed to the Confederate flag increased aggression toward a Black person, compared to those who believe the flag is a symbol of the South and for those who had a White partner. vii INTRODUCTION The Confederate flag is a symbol rich with meaning. Some view the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism (Martinez, 2000; Webster & Leib, 2001). This view of the flag stems from its historical connections with slavery, the Southern Confederacy in the Civil War, and, more recently, from its use as a sol of hite poer seeral proiet ati-Black groups (Martinez, 2000; Mendelberg, 2001; Webster & Leib, 2001). Others disagree with this perception of the flag and view it as a symbol of Southern culture and independence. These opposing views of the Confederate flag have inspired heated debate over the true meaning of the flag and the appropriateness of its display, particularly on government property (Knight, 2009; Webster & Leib, 2001). While public debate has focused largely on which perception of the Confederate flag is the most appropriate, it is equally important to understand the consequences of being exposed to this symbol. Exposure to symbols that are rich with meaning can lead to increased accessibility for concepts associated with those symbols and, consequently, can have a profound influence on judgments and behavior (Butz, Plant, & Doerr, 2007; Ferguson & Hassin, 2007). Recent research suggests that exposure to the Confederate flag, in particular, results in more negative judgments of Black targets (Ehrlinger, Plant, Eibach, Columb, Goplen, Kunstman, & Butz, in press). The present investigation extends this recent research into behavior, as well as assesses a potential moderator for this effect. Priming and Confederate Flag exposure Culture and personal experiences imbue objects and symbols with meaning (Barsalou, 1999; Ledgerwood,
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