Null racial-priming results may reflect weak messages rather than real effects.

Evidence

However, Valentino et al. (2018) also found no difference between a neutral control condition and either of the racial appeal conditions. Although they argued that this should be expected because they were examining issues where race is already highly salient, this pattern of results leaves open the possibility that the messages they presented may have been ineffective for reasons unrelated to their racial content. — Rachel Wetts and Robb Willer, Who Is Called by the Dog Whistle?…, 26

Categorization

• QUESTION: Sharp methodological caution relevant to designing/reading any experiment testing whether encoded messages backfire.
• XREF: connects to: Subliminal racial priming shifts judgments even among people low in prejudice — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 299; Contradictory findings signal weak effects rather than mere measurement differences — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4344

Related

• Explicit and implicit racial cues boost racial resentment equally in whites (similarity 0.80)
• Subliminal racial priming shifts judgments even among people low in prejudice (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Contradictory findings signal weak effects rather than mere measurement differences #corroborates (0.78) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4344
• Subliminal racial priming shifts judgments even among people low in prejudice #contradicts (0.72) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 299