Experimental Design Workshop | Oct 28th [Online] - Incite at Columbia University

"Racial Stereotypes' Effects on Perceived Authenticity”

Prior experimental work finds that high-status actors are more likely to be perceived as inauthentic, inconsiderate, and unlikeable, compared to low-status actors. Research on the Stereotype Content Model also finds that Asian Americans are likely to be stereotyped as competent, but not warm.

The proposed experiment seeks to integrate these two models by testing how racial stereotypes affect perceptions of authenticity. Respondents will read a short vignette describing a hypothetical high school student who participates in an activity that is either stereotypically “Asian” or not, with the student's racial background signaled via name. They will then complete a survey about how they perceive the described student. Results may have implications for the college admissions process, where perceived authenticity plays an increasingly important factor in holistic review.

Tiffany J. Huang is a Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on race and immigration, examining the outcomes and racialization of immigrants and the second generation, as well as intergroup relations and attitudes. Tiffany earned her PhD in Sociology at Columbia University in 2021.

“Does Participatory Memory Work About Past Injustice Mobilize Participants Against Prejudice and Injustice Today?”

Among social scientists, there is a burgeoning interest in the involvement of the public with conflict archives and their digitization. Archives that host materials about victims increasingly digitize these materials to make them more accessible, and they crowdsource the digitization process to interested members of the public. The ethics of engaging with materials in conflict archives are complicated and subject to heated debates among scholars from different disciplines. One assumption underlying many of the arguments made in favor of engaging the public is that engaging with historic conflict material will lead participants to oppose injustice and decrease prejudice.

Our research strives to contribute to these debates by examining the effect of participation in the digitization of victim files produced by the Nazi regime. Does participation decrease prejudice and increase the motivation to engage in individual and collective action against prejudice and discrimination?

In the field-in-the-lab experiment we are planning, treatment consists of participation in a real-world crowdsourced digitization project. Participants index historic files from concentration and forced labor camps on an online platform, thereby contributing to what will be the largest existing digital database of Nazi crimes. Data entries typically consist of a victim or survivor’s name, date of birth, “prisoner category”, i.e. the Nazis’ victim group designation, as well as other personal information and information about their imprisonment if it is listed on the document.

Building on social psychological and sociological scholarship, we will measure how participation affects defensiveness, collective guilt, colorblindness, motivation to respond without prejudice, and motivation to engage in collective action against prejudice and discrimination.

Berenike Firestone is a PhD Candidate in the Sociology Department at Columbia University. Her research revolves around the question of how recent history shapes political behavior today. In her dissertation, she examines how center-right party politics and education reforms in post-WWII Germany shaped far-right support over time. In collaboration with a research team at the Hertie School in Berlin, she studies how participatory memory projects affect support for a democratic and pluralistic society.

The workshop allows social scientists to workshop the design of an experiment they have not yet fielded. Graduate student and faculty presenters will present their designs and receive specific, actionable feedback from other workshop participants. A list of our previous sessions can be found here.

For inquiries or if you are interested in joining the workshop's email list, please contact Daniel Tadmon (daniel.tadmon@columbia.edu) or James Chu (jyc2163@columbia.edu).

Funding support for the Experimental Design Workshop is provided by the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Lecture Series, administered by INCITE, which features events and programming that embody and honor Lazarsfeld’s commitment to the improvement of methodological approaches that address concerns of vital cultural and social significance.