Survey context changes how much prejudice people admit to.

Evidence

White respondents generally express more positive racial attitudes to Black interviewers than to White interviewers, as if trying not to offend (Kinder & Sanders, 1996; Schuman et al., 1997). Also, prejudiced Whites may hide behind “no opinion” responses (Berinsky, 2004). Unobtrusive measures typically reveal more evidence of bias than do explicit self-reports (Crosby, Bromley, & Saxe, 1980). — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 2172

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: The interviewer-effect and self-presentation findings parallel the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ article’s thesis that expressed attitudes are class and signaling behavior, not inner states.
• QUESTION: Do the ‘no opinion’ hiding behaviors show up in modern online surveys or only live interviewer settings?
• XREF: connects to: Vague survey wording can make racial prejudice undetectable in response data