Now They are American, Now They are Not: Valence as a Determinant of the Inclusion of African Americans in the American Identity

Implicitly, Americans of several ethnicities associate being American with being White (American = White effect). Three studies investigated the basis for this effect and tested its malleability. We predicted that African Americans would be included into the category American when they were perceived positively, but would be excluded when they were perceived negatively. Experiment 1 showed that subliminal presentation of positive African American stereotypic traits reduced the American = White effect, but that subliminal presentation of negative African American stereotypic traits increased this effect. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that presenting positive African American exemplars decreased the American = White effect, whereas presenting negative African American exemplars increased it. Experiment 2 also revealed that negative African American exemplars (compared to positive African American exemplars) reduced categorization of African Americans as American and that these categorizations accounted for changes in the American = White effect. In Experiment 3, when positive African Americans were presented, Americans (in general) were described as having more positive traits stereotypic of African Americans, but when negative African Americans were presented Americans were described with fewer negative traits stereotypic of African Americans. The results are discussed in terms of the relative inclusion/exclusion of subgroups into a superordinate group.