"[R]esearch presented in a new paper by psychologists at Stanford, Pennsylvania State University and the University of California-Berkeley reveals that many Americans subconsciously associate blacks with apes."How do you even arrive at this theory? And why would a university fund this as research? And does this mean that now I can't watch Planet of the Apes anymore because it makes me a racist?
So they conducted a study,
So a picture of a chimp changing into a white man makes white people associate apes with black people? That doesn't even make sense. The logical connection is that there's a relationship between chimps and white people. I don't see how this evidence is related to her thesis.[Eberhardt, a scientist, real quote] "You have suspicions when you do the work—intuitions—you have a hunch. But it was hard to prepare for how strong [the black-ape association] was—how we were able to pick it up every time."
"When people think of a civilized person, a white man comes to mind."An iconic 1970 illustration, "March of Progress," published in the Time-Life book early Man, depicts evolution beginning with a chimpanzee and ending with a white man. "It's a legacy of our past that the endpoint of evolution is a white man," Eberhardt said.
They showed pictures and videos of blacks and whites and looked for the black/ape association.
Here is a sample [satirized] interview:
PSYCHOLOGIST: Look harder.
SUBJECT: I don't know what you're talking about.
PSYCHOLOGIST: Look you freakin idiot; it's a picture of Michael Jackson. And here's a picture of an ape. I'll even make the pictures really blurry so you can't tell what they are. Don't they look alike?
SUBJECT: No, why? I mean he's a person and an ape is an ape, all hairy and hunched over. Like an animal.
PSYCHOLOGIST: What are you talking about? Look, we're some scientists at Stanford and Berkeley and Penn State, and if we think that you think that Michael Jackson and Yaphet Kotto and Oprah Winfrey look like apes, then dammit, you assholes are going to justify our stupidity. Damn! What is wrong with you?
SUBJECT: I just don't see it. You guys are stupid; I'm leaving.
PSYCHOLOGIST: Okay, but I'm putting you down for a Yes."
[end dramatization]
I would like to see what would happen if you tried to get funding for the same study, but with blacks and polar bears.
FICTIONAL SCIENTIST: I would like to study how Americans relate images of polar bears to black people.
DEAN'S COMMITTEE: That's not even close. Black people don't look anything like polar bears.
FICTIONAL SCIENTIST: Yeah, like in the original study with apes, polar bears have black skin. And polar bears, like apes, are associated with terms like "savage" and "wild."
DEAN'S COMMITTEE: But polar bears live in the North.
FICTIONAL SCIENTIST: Look, Americans can't even locate states on a map. Most white people think black people come from Chicago and Detroit, anyway. So north is north to most people.
DEAN'S COMMITTEE: Okay, here's some money.
After my study, which I'm sure would arrive at the same conclusions since "priming" subjects with images and terms is like saying, "don't think about the word, elephant." You're going to think about elephants.
But my conclusion won't have anything to do with race; my theory is that Americans are extremely susceptible to suggestion. That people will believe what you tell them to believe.
And my conclusion would be, that's why advertising is able to create positive associations between attractive people and crappy products so easily. And why some poor college students now have thoughts comparing black people with apes.
Sure, there's racism in America, but not here. Here is just dumb science.
