Graduation Date
Spring 2023
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Psychology, option Academic Research
Committee Chair Name
Amber Gaffney
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Amanda Hahn
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Justin Hackett
Third Committee Member Affiliation
Community Member or Outside Professional
Subject Categories
Psychology
Abstract
Black Lives Matter (BLM) symbolizes the need to recognize the humanity of Black lives and the systemic discrimination contributing to the murders of unarmed Black Americans at the hands of police. While there were some white Americans who participated in the demonstrations during the summer of 2020, there was also significant opposition (Astor, 2020). . The current work seeks to contribute to existing social identity literature by examining how subtle racist rhetoric in the media, combined with a threat to the white American identity (prototypicality threat) may impact support for BLM. To address these hypotheses, white participants will be recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). Based on research from Moscovici and Perez (2007) and Stephan, Renfro, and Davis (2008), I hypothesize that white Americans who feel prototypical of the American identity will be more supportive of BLM when media describes the movement and activists as agents of peace seeking to dismantle systems of anti-Blackness and end police brutality as opposed to being described as a militant group.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
McDowell, Jordan C., "Prototypicality threat and intergroup threat theory: support for BLM using militant or peaceful language" (2023). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 664.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/664