Whiteness

Political scientists surveyed people in urban areas in the Midwest and measured their skin color (on the top of the hand and underside of the wrist) with a light sensor. Those who self-identified as white but had darker skin reported more white pride, more support for Donald Trump, and more support for the importance of speaking English, when the sample was controlled for gender, age, education, income, conservatism, party identification, neighborhood demographics, and tanning (determined by comparing the top of the hand to the underside of the wrist). Researchers theorize that darker-skinned white people may be more motivated to protect the boundaries of whiteness because they feel they have more to lose if racial boundaries blur.

Yadon, N. & Ostfeld, M., Shades of Privilege: The Relationship Between Skin Color and Political Attitudes Among White Americans, Political Behavior (forthcoming).

Where you stand

In a series of experiments, people who were simply assigned to one side or the other of a hypothetical legal case without actually arguing it adopted correspondingly more or less negative views of the person on trial, even when informed of actual guilt. The same effect was seen in similar experiments with practicing lawyers.

Melnikoff, D. & Strohminger, N., The Automatic Influence of Advocacy on Lawyers and Novices, Nature Human Behaviour (forthcoming).

Applying like a lady

In a survey of job applicants and in a job-application experiment, women applying for male-typical jobs tended to use less language associated with women like supportive and understanding in cover letters, anticipating more gender discrimination in hiring. However, an analysis of evaluations by those with hiring authority or experience showed that more feminine language was associated with better evaluations, regardless of job type.

He, J. & Kang, S., Covering in Cover Letters: Gender and Self-Presentation in Job Applications, Academy of Management Journal (forthcoming).

Its the nationalized news, stupid

A few decades ago, people read and watched local news at higher rates. Politicians had to campaign on local issues and address local needs, sometimes crossing party lines to do so. But then came the information superhighway and a greater focus on national news and politics. A political scientist found that between 2002 and 2008, as broadband Internet access grew in the United States, so did partisan behavior among voters. There was less split-ticket voting, a smaller incumbency advantage, greater partisan down-ballot effects during presidential election years, and less electoral downside for members of Congress who typically followed the party line in their votes.

Trussler, M., Get Information or Get in Formation: The Effects of High-Information Environments on Legislative Elections, British Journal of Political Science (forthcoming).

Original post:
Social Studies: Shades of white, applying while female, and the partisan Internet - The Boston Globe