Race-status associations have been observed in literature. This pre-registered
project (n=1080) employs reverse correlation to capture construals
of race-status composites. In study 1, participants saw two faces and
selected the face that appears most representative of a given race-status
combination (i.e., each participant was randomly assigned to one
combination): high-status Black, high-status White, low-status Black and
low-status White. Selections across 400 trials were averaged across
participants for each combination. In study 2 (ongoing), all four averaged
construals (i.e., one average construal per race-status combination) will
be rated by independent participants on perceived status and race
prototypicality. We expect to observe the following: Among White faces,
high-status construals will be rated significantly more high-status than
low-status construals. This effect will be attenuated for Black faces.
Also, among Black faces, low-status construals will be rated significantly
more prototypically Black than high-status construals. This will be less so
for White faces. Identifying participant construals of race-status
composites may help us better understand outcomes and intervention.