Stereotype alignment can heighten a mixed person’s felt similarity to a racial category.

Evidence

Existing research has documented that category-specific stereotypes influence perceivers’ categorization of racially ambiguous individuals (e.g., Freeman et al. 2011; Hugenberg and Bodenhausen 2004). This influence might extend to the mechanisms of self-categorization, where aligning with a category-specific stereotype may heighten perceived similarity to that category. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 41

Categorization

• XREF: Speaks directly to the reader’s question: if protective solidarity within an ingroup demands homogenization, a mixed member who aligns with one group’s stereotype reduces felt similarity to the other category — perhaps the mechanism by which mixed members get pulled to ‘one or the other’ side. — connects to: Identity alignment requires perceived sufficiency of similarity rather than actual sameness — Mary Bucholtz and Kira Hall, Identity and Interaction: A…, 75; Perceived similarity to a racial category drives self-categorization among mixed-race people — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 37; Mixed-race individuals use their own observable behavior as similarity evidence when self-categorizing racially. — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or…, 42 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Shared discrimination or invalidation experiences shape Mixed individuals’ felt similarity to groups. #expands (0.85) — Anna X. Huang, Jacqueline M. Chen, and Juliane Degner, Being One or the Other, Both or Neither, 45
• Ascription of racial identity drives both compliance with and resistance to the stereotype #qualifies (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 74