Releasing the Pressure: Race,Talking Heads, and Reverse Social Desirability.

While there has been much research on social desirability effects, most of this discussion has been confined to methodological issues related to survey design and implementation. However, social desirability effects and the willingness to express “true” attitudes is a phenomenon that plagues pubic opinion absent of survey research, especially when it comes to articulating attitudes about race. Since the 1960s, it has become taboo to discuss race and racism and to convey ideas that do not conform to equality among all people. We argue, however, that the unwillingness to discuss these ideas does not mean that they do not exist. We believe that racist ideologies are just below the surface of many whites who, for fear of ridicule, do not express them freely. We also believe that, when people have their beliefs validated, i.e. when they encounter others who share in their beliefs, they will express their true racial attitudes. Finally, we believe that the willingness to express these beliefs will be greater when the racial attitudes of the individual have been validated by an African American. To test our assumptions, we first conduct a content analysis of debates surrounding several racial issues. We find that the media have a tendency to over represent the views of black conservatives. We argue that the overrepresentation of black conservatives in the news leads to a distortion of the true public opinion of African Americans. As a result, the public encounters a view of African American public opinion that is much more conservative than it is in actuality. We hypothesize that the over representation of black conservatives enables whites to feel comfortable about expressing their true racial attitudes since many of their beliefs have been validated by (prominent) blacks. Thus, the second part of the study experimentally tests the above hypothesis. Specifically, we examine whether encountering a black conservative espousing a racially conservative ideas causes an individual to be more likely to express racially conservative attitudes. Moreover, we examine what impact this has on attitudes towards public policies aimed at racial equality. This study allows us to explore the dynamics and boundaries of social desirability using an example individuals encounter in everyday life. Moreover, this study illustrates the role the media play in enabling individuals to express their true beliefs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]