Men’s race bias is driven by aggression combined with dominance motives, women’s is not

Evidence

In an attempt to understand the male-specific psychology of prejudice, Navarrete et al. (2010) examined how individual differences in dominance motivations and aggressive formidability interact to predict race bias. The authors used a measure of SDO (Pratto et al., 1994) to assess one’s desire to dominate out-groups. Aggressive formidability was assessed using a measure of aggressive behavior (Buss & Perry, 1992). Results revealed a three-way interaction, such that, among men, explicit race bias was related to aggression most strongly when SDO was high. In other words, race bias was greatest among men with a history of aggressive behavior and greater social dominance motives. In contrast, the interaction of SDO and aggression did not predict increased race bias among women. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1266 (#expands, via linked claim)

Based on the assumptions of SDT, we see little theoretical reason to expect prejudice, defined as in-group favoritism, to be gendered, in that there should be few, if any, gender differences in the levels of in-group favoritism among men and women, nor with respect to the gender of the targets of in-group favoritism. In contrast, this gender orthogonality is not expected when intergroup prejudice is defined in terms of out-group aggression, dominance, or social predation. Within this domain of intergroup prejudice, men are expected to be both the primary agents and targets of intergroup predation and aggression. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1177 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Arbitrary-set discrimination primarily targets subordinate males, not women; Male race bias peaks where aggression and dominance motives combine — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1266; Men express more dominance-oriented racism and violent intergroup competition than women — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1272 (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• Male race bias peaks where aggression and dominance motives combine #expands (0.95) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1266
• Prejudice-as-favoritism is gender-neutral but aggression targets men specifically #complicates (0.78) — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 1177