Reckless Gambles and Responsible Ventures: Racialized Prototypes of Risk-Taking

• Published in: Journal of personality and social psychology 2022-02, Vol.122 (2), p.202-221
• Main Authors: Wages, James E., Perry, Sylvia P., Skinner-Dorkenoo, Allison L., Bodenhausen, Galen V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Attribution; Black People; Discrimination; Female; Games; Human; Humans; Imagination; Male; Membership; Mental imagery; Prototypes; Racial discrimination; Racial Groups; Racial stereotypes; Racialization; Racism; Responsibility; Risk; Risk perception; Risk Taking; Social groups; Social Perception; Stereotyped Attitudes; Stereotypes; Stereotyping; Ventures; White People
• ISSN: 0022-3514; 1939-1315
• DOI: 10.1037/pspa0000287

Risk-taking is sometimes admired and sometimes disparaged. In this research, we examine previously unexplored questions concerning how membership in social groups is related to expectations and perceptions of risk-taking. We propose that prototypes of risk-takers incorporate racial associations. We conducted five studies (NTotal = 1,603, predominantly White residents of the United States) examining whether prototypes of risk-takers-primarily reckless and responsible ones-activate racial stereotypes and discrimination. We first focused on whether participants perceive Black (vs. White) men as more likely to engage in risk-taking, broadly construed (Study 1). Next, we tested whether the trait attributions (Studies 2 and 3) and mental images constructed with the reverse correlation task (Study 3) of reckless risk-takers are more stereotypically Black (and less White) than responsible risk-takers. In Study 4, we employed an investment game to investigate participants' willingness to trust targets we depicted using the racialized mental images of reckless and responsible risk-takers derived from Study 3. A final study examined whether thinking about reckless risk-takers evokes Black stereotypes broadly, including even positive stereotype content. Findings confirmed that reckless risk-takers were imagined as more phenotypically Black and as having more stereotypically Black traits (both positive and negative), compared with responsible risk-takers. Theoretical and practical implications for this novel stereotype content in the domain of risk are discussed.