When being a model minority is good…and bad

The studies in the article demonstrate how associating Asian-Americans with positive qualities tends to increase the degree to which people feel threatened by the group’s academic and financial success, which in turn leads to more negative attitudes towards them. After testing the participants’ agreement with positive Asian-American stereotypes, the researchers used a variety of methods to test the paradoxical effect, all of which are delineated in the PSPB article.

“A stereotype, even a positive one, comes with costs,” writes Sara D. Hodges, PSPB Associate Editor. “This study is important because it might prompt people to consider how ethnic stereotypes – even if they aren’t derogatory stereotypes – might be affecting their perceptions of members of other groups in ways they might not have otherwise considered.”

The article, “When being a model minority is good…and bad: Realistic threat explains negativity towards Asian Americans,” written by William Maddux, Adam D. Galinsky, Amy J. C. Cuddy, and Mark Polifroni in the January issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin is available at no charge for a limited time at http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/34/1/74.

For over 30 years, the official monthly journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (PSPB) has provided an international forum for the rapid dissemination of original empirical papers in all areas of personality and social psychology. SPSP counts more than 4,500 researchers, educators, and students in its membership worldwide. To contact the Executive Officer of SPSP, call David Dunning at (607) 255-6391, or email at spsp@cornell.edu. http://pspb.sagepub.com www.spsp.org

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