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CNN: Study: We think black men are bigger than white men (even when they're not)

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SHOCKING NEWS

http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/13/health/black-men-larger-study-trnd/index.html
CNN)
When we look at black men, what is and what we see are often different things. Namely, we may see black men as bigger, stronger, and scarier than white men, even if they are the same size.

In a new body of research published by the American Psychological Association, 950 online participants from the US were asked to rate black and white men based on their weight, height, strength and build.
"We found that these estimates were consistently biased. Participants judged the black men to be larger, stronger and more muscular than the white men, even though they were actually the same size," said the study's lead author, John Paul Wilson, of Montclair State University.
The findings got even more ominous from there. Not only did participants distort the size of the men, they also identified the black men as, essentially, more of a threat deserving of force.
"Participants also believed that the black men were more capable of causing harm in a hypothetical altercation and, troublingly, that police would be more justified in using force to subdue them, even if the men were unarmed," Wilson said.

Skin tone and facial variations made a difference
There were more fascinating and concerning patterns in the study's findings:
Both white and black participants overestimated the size and strength of black men, but black participants did not label them as more dangerous or likely to deserve police force during an altercation
Black men with darker skin and more pronounced "black" facial features (wide nose, large lips, etc) were subject to more distortion. "We found that men with darker skin and more stereotypically black facial features tended to be most likely to elicit biased size perceptions, even though they were actually no larger than men with lighter skin and less stereotypical facial features," Wilson said .


Results have unnerving implications
It's nor hard to see where these results could be applied -- the size and perceived strength of black victims of violence has figured into many prominent cases, including the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown and the 2014 shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was characterized as "menacing."
To that last point, this study's findings also parallel a similar study published in the APA in 2014 that found people view black boys as older and less innocent than white boys.
The authors of this study say their findings could be used to further explore the role of stereotypes in social behavior and the application of police force.
 

JustenP88

I earned 100 Gamerscore™ for collecting 300 widgets and thereby created Trump's America
I can definitely cop to this as I noticed it about myself watching football growing up as a kid. My first thought I had as an example was "which linebacker is bigger? Ray Lewis or Brian Urlacher?" I thought Ray, easily. I just checked, Brian is fucking enormous and I'm an idiot.
 

Derwind

Member
Fuck... does that mean I don't make the cut as a black man?

This is like P.E. class all over again, just a benchwarmers life for me I guess.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Thought this was about penis size

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The irony in all this is that Whites dominate power lifting and sports that emphasize brute strength.
But it explains why so many White people will say STOP RESISTING in response to a Black man feebly moving his arms as a cop beats his face in.
 
From a sheer visual standpoint, I can see how a darker skin tone could make you appear bigger and taller.

A lot of racist ideas seem to stem from oversimplified conclusions based on irrational observations.
 

XiaNaphryz

LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Does this study say if people thought black men had superior black muscles as well?

I know you're joking, but there's also the stereotype of black athletes all having more fast twitch muscles than average and that's why they have a lot of success. Never mind that this wouldn't be effective for all sports, like endurance running.
 
I know you're joking, but there's also the stereotype of black athletes all having more fast twitch muscles than average and why they have success. Never mind that this wouldn't be effective for all sports, like endurance running.

I'm pretty sure he's making fun of a bit in an American Football manga called Eyeshield 21.
 

Zaru

Member
Dumb question but do muscles appear larger on darker skin? I always assumed that's why white people used so much fake tan before bodybuilding competitions.

What ELSE would they be using the shinyness and tan for?
But unless black people walk around shirtless this doesn't really matter much for the perception of their muscles mass/strength.
 
I was told at 12 how White folk was scared of me because of my size.

It's funny to see all these decades later academia say the same shit we've known from jump.
 

Dabanton

Member
I'd love a study on how effective local news is in also stoking these fears up even more. Whenever I visit the US watching the local news is like a parade of black mugshots and fear stories pumped into homes. It's like a bad parody. But that stuff has to be scarily effective.
 
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