Volume-VI, Issue-I, July 2019 |
The Effects of Race and Gender on Perceptions of Trustworthiness in a High Status Occupation Brenda Cunha, Dept. of Psychology, Monmouth University, 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ Michele Van Volkom, Ph.D, Lecturer, Dept. of Psychology, Monmouth University, 400 Cedar Avenue, West Long Branch, NJ |
Received: 02.07.2019 | Accepted: 18.07.2019 | Published Online: 31.07.2019 | Page No: 91-105 | ||||
DOI: 10.29032/ijhsss.vol.06.issue.01W.087 | |||||||
ABSTRACT | ||
This study evaluated the potential influence of race and gender on perceptions of trustworthiness of someone in a high status occupation (a lawyer). Eighty participants from a private university completed a questionnaire and a demographics survey. The study measured participants’ perceptions of trustworthiness of a pictured individual, and how many business cards participants were willing to take to assess trustworthiness. Participants were assigned randomly to one of four conditions: white male, black male, white female, or black female. It was predicted that the white individual would be perceived as more trustworthy than the black individual and take more business cards. It was also hypothesized that males would be assessed as being more trustworthy than females and have more business cards taken. Lastly, it was predicted that the interaction between race and gender would show the white male condition would have the most trustworthiness assigned to it versus all other conditions and participants would be more likely to take the white male’s business cards versus all the other conditions. Results revealed participants were more likely to trust and take a greater amount of business cards from the black individual over the white individual. There were no significant findings for gender or the interaction of race and gender on perceptions of trustworthiness and the number of business cards taken. These findings imply that there may be a change in society regarding the perceptions of race for someone in a high status occupation. Limitations and future research directions are discussed. Keywords: Race, racial biases, gender discrimination, trustworthiness, lawyers. |