Implicit Prejudice in Eight-Graders

Abstract

This study examines the automatic activation of negative prejudices towards Turks using a masked affective priming paradigm in a sample of German adolescents (aged 13 to 15). Pictures of Turks and Germans were used as masked primes; positive and negative adjectives conveying either other-relevant valence (e.g., honest, evil) or possessor-relevant valence (e.g., talented, dull) were used as targets. Results revealed that both explicit prejudices towards Turks living in Germany as well as prejudiced behaviour in a virtual ball-tossing game are meaningfully related to automatic prejudice activation. As expected, these correlations were found only for priming indices based on other-relevant targets, thereby emphasising the differentiation of implicit prejudice into (imputed) hostility and depreciation.