Rebuffing Racial Insults: How Culture Shapes Our Behavior

The color of our skin or where we come does matter when it comes to how we react to a racist insult. A new study has found that African American women are more likely than Asian American women to directly rebuff racist comments, a difference that may reflect deeply rooted cultural differences.

The researchers, led by Elizabeth Lee and José Soto of The Pennsylvania State University, tested direct responses to racism by analyzing Instant Messenger conversations in which an actor delivers to participants a racial insult. They then tested indirect responses by looking at jellybean flavors chosen for the same conversation partner. Read more details about the study, published this week online in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, in the press release.