Why Barack Obama Is Black: A Cognitive Account of Hypodescent

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 22; no. 1; pp. 29 - 33
• Main Authors: Halberstadt, Jamin, Sherman, Steven J., Sherman, Jeffrey W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.01.2011; Sage Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adult; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Attention; Attention - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; China; Classification; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognition - physiology; Cognitive psychology; Computer software; Ethnic minorities; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Face; Famous Persons; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Learning; Learning - physiology; Majority groups; Male; Minorities; Minority & ethnic groups; Minority groups; Minority Groups - psychology; Motivation; Multiracial people; New Zealand; Obama, Barack; Perception; Psychological research; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Race; Race Relations - psychology; Racism; Research Reports; Saliency; Selective attention; Social attribution, perception and cognition; Social classes; Social Identification; Social perception; Social psychology; Stereotypes; Stereotyping; Students - psychology; U.S.A; United States history; Vision; White people; Young Adult; New Zealand; China; face perception; category learning; attention; stereotypes; minorities; hypodescent; Human; Attention; Stereotype; Experimental study; Ethnic group; Social cognition; Learning; Mixed race; Acquisition process; Minority; Vision; Race; Perception; Face; Categorization
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1177/0956797610390383

We propose that hypodescent—the assignment of mixed-race individuals to a minority group—is an emergent feature of basic cognitive processes of learning and categorization. According to attention theory, minority groups are learned by attending to the features that distinguish them from previously learned majority groups. Selective attention creates a strong association between minority groups and their distinctive features, producing a tendency to see individuals who possess a mixture of majority- and minority-group traits as minority-group members. Two experiments on face categorization, using both naturally occurring and manipulated minority groups, support this view, suggesting that hypodescent need not be the product of racist or political motivations, but can be sufficiently explained by an individual's learning history.