We tend to be more attracted to people who have a similar skin color. But a new study suggests that our romantic attraction towards people of other races can be influenced by our ideological beliefs.
The study found that young white men who endorse a “color-blind” ideology tend to be less attracted to black women compared to white men who don’t endorse such beliefs. But young white and black men who endorse multiculturalism tend to be more attracted to women of another race compared to those who don’t endorse multiculturalism.
Those who endorse a “color-blind” racial ideology believe the best way to fight racial discrimination is to ignore the concept of race altogether. The color-blind ideology holds that “race should not and does not matter.” Those who endorse multiculturalism believe society should embrace a multitude of ethnic and cultural groups. Multiculturalism makes an “effortful positive evaluation of group differences.”
The research was conducted by James E. Brooks of Tennessee State University and Helen A. Neville of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.
The study was based on 62 black and 62 white male college students, who rated the attractiveness of women featured in eight fake online dating profiles. Three of the profiles featured black women, three featured white women, one featured an Asian woman, and one featured a Latina woman. For the study, however, the researchers only included the participants’ evaluation of the black and white women.
Overall, the participants reported greater attraction toward women of their same race. White men were more likely report higher levels of attraction toward the white women, and black men were more likely report higher levels of attraction toward the black women.
However, the ideology of the participants influenced their responses. The more a white participant embraced a “color-blind” ideology, the less likely he was express an interest in dating one of the black women.
“Thus, although white men endorsed statements which suggest that race does not matter in society, it appeared that race did matter in their personal lives as indicated by their romantic attraction,” the researchers said.
Among the black participants, there was no relationship between endorsing a “color-blind” ideology and attraction to white women. But black participants who endorsed a “color-blind” ideology tended to be less attracted to women of their own race.
Multiculturalism, on the other hand, was associated with greater interracial attraction. The more a participant endorsed multiculturalism, the more likely they were to be attracted to women of another race. This was true of both black and white participants.
“These results are important because they suggest that it is more than a mere absence of prejudice that can foster interracial attraction but that a conscious commitment to the recognition and valuing of difference across race may be what is influential in interracial attraction,” Brooks and Neville wrote.
12 Comments
Photographs are not people. They are flat images. This study discovered how students rank photographs by skin tone only.
Did it occur to any of these geniuses that it’s the other way around? College kids are likely to be interested in the culture of chicks they want to bang? Because, “Wow, that girl’s hot. I need to bone up on whatever she’s into if I want to bone her” is much more common in college than, “Wow, my hard work in race and gender studies has given me a much deeper and more refined appreciation of the beauty of ethnic minorities and their myriad skin tones.” I’m pretty sure they left the preference for Asians and Latinas out of their finding because their goal wasn’t to prove that yellow fever is rampant on college campuses.
So you’re saying the students who endorsed multiculturalism somehow saw the different women they were told to rate ahead of time, went and learned not just about one specific culture, but about multiculturalism and, just so they could get with those women?
I mean I know correlation doesnt necessarily mean causality, but they evidently had multicultural ideals prior to seeing the women shown during the study.
They probably were already attracted to a certain type of woman before they saw the photos as well. I’m just saying, from my personal experience as a college male, as Samuel L. Jackson pointed out, “My girlfriend’s a vegetarian, so I’m a vegetarian.” I’m saying that white guys who are attracted to black women probably developed the interest in multiculturalism because of their physical attraction to black women, not the other way around. I’m a lot more likely to learn Cantonese because I want to sleep with a Chinese girl, than I am to want to sleep with a Chinese girl because I’ve been studying Cantonese and those rising and falling inflections have really changed how I look at women.
Sociologists can prove anything so that it fits their agenda.
They’re all the same on the inside…….
pink.
Here we go again….
—“However, the ideology of the participants influenced their responses. The more a white participant embraced a “color-blind” ideology, the less likely he was express an interest in dating one of the black women.
Thus, although white men endorsed statements which suggest that race does not matter in society, it appeared that race did matter in their personal lives as indicated by their romantic attraction,” the researchers said.—
Interesting conclusion.
However could it not of be that personality and cultural traits associated with certain groups could be the an underlying variable here rather than some hidden skin color preference?
If someone where to put aside skin color than what else is there to focus on but culture?
Is this interpretation by these sociology researchers not just misconstruing (or misattributing) culture preference (which would exist no matter one’s views on skin color) versus the direct disregard over skin color preference itself? In fact is that not being bared out via their conclusion on their findings for those who embrace multiculturalism and are more likely prone to dating people of different race, i.e. different cultures.
As usual, another study was done to prove black women are inferior to white women. Is this in response to the Kennedy Center Honors that aired in December, in which it was revealed that billionaire George Lucas is married to a black woman? Or is it because the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, is married to a black female and you fear this spread to other successful white males lol? Wow, the fear is real. These so called studies are conducted every few years to come to up with scientific data to prove and provide society with a friendly reminder that black women are inferior to white women. Notice, they didn’t use the information about asian and hispanic women because they never cared. They were overdue for another black is inferior study. Why didn’t they report the data on how many of the men preferred Asian women? Was it because Asian women were selected more than white females? I am sure the pictures of black women were the most unattractive black women they could possibly find. I’m sure in a couple of years your next study will just be called the “Whites Are Superior, So Stay Away From Blacks” study lol. This shows nothing but insecurity, fear, and paranoia on the side of the researchers. Are you that afraid that some of your good white men might do the unthinkable and start procreating with the forbidden black girls LOL? Honestly, if anyone reads history, you know these kind of “studies” have been done for years to prove blacks are inferior to whites. It really isn’t anything new. Continue doing your bogus studies if it makes you feel like you possibly saved one white man from polluting his superior seed with a…OMG…black woman…and to remind everyone that white is always right. Ridiculous…
As usual, another study was done to prove black women are inferior to white women. Is this in response to the Kennedy Center Honors that aired in December, in which it was revealed that billionaire George Lucas is married to a black woman? Or is it because the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, is married to a black female and you fear this spread to other successful white males lol? Wow, the fear is real. These so called studies are conducted every few years to come to up with scientific data to prove and provide society with a friendly reminder that black women are inferior to white women. Notice, they didn’t use the information about asian and hispanic women because they never cared. They were overdue for another black is inferior study. Why didn’t they report the data on how many of the men preferred Asian women? Was it because Asian women were selected more than white females? I am sure the pictures of black women were the most unattractive black women they could possibly find. I’m sure in a couple of years your next study will just be called the “Whites Are Superior, So Stay Away From Blacks” study lol. This shows nothing but insecurity, fear, and paranoia on the side of the researchers. Are you that afraid that some of your good white men might do the unthinkable and start procreating with the forbidden black girls LOL? Honestly, if anyone reads history, you know these kind of “studies” have been done for years to prove blacks are inferior to whites. It really isn’t anything new. Continue doing your bogus studies if it makes you feel like you possibly saved one white man from polluting his superior seed with a…OMG…black woman…and to remind everyone that white is always right. Ridiculous…
My last post wasn’t allowed, so maybe this one will be :-). These types of studies are done every few years to prove to everyone white women are superior to black women. I guess when it becomes public knowledge that people like billionaire George Lucas (Star Wars) and that the Mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, are married to black women, that panic and fear of an epidemic intensifies lol. If you look throughout history, these studies about black women vs white women have been done over and ovet again as a “friendly reminder ” that she’s not to be touched. Amazing that this is STILL going on. Insecurity at its worst…
Have academics given any attention to the power-politics of post-racial ideology?
I have, and this is what I came up with: It is a modern, secular replacement for the power-political role of medieval church ideology, serving the age-old strategy of “divide and rule”, whereby society (effectively, its white majority) is divided into a morally superior, now supposedly “colour-blind”, elite and the morally inferior, naturally (human nature being what it is) less colour-blind, masses, who must submit to the authority of and domination by their “moral superiors”.
See blog in which I elaborate further in these ideas: http://unapprovedcomments.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/the-wests-overreaction-to-nazism.html