Katie Cochran

Research Article Review

The Persuasive Appeal of Stigma
Spring 2015
Multiculturalism on College Campuses- Dr. Wilson

The article The Persuasive Appeal of Stigma, a research article completed by Michael
I. Norton, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Dana R. Carney and Dan Ariely, studied the impact that a face to
face conversation has on interracial dialogue. This piece of research stemmed from previous
research that showed that white Americans have become increasingly concerned with monitoring
themselves when engaged in conversation with black Americans. The research specifically
shows that the white Americans monitor themselves for signs of prejudice the majority of the
time when engaged in conversation. Self presentation is at the forefront of white Americans
mind when engaged in dialogue with black Americans, thus leading to this research.
The hypothesis was that members of majority groups are more persuaded by members of
a stigmatized group (an outgroup) than by fellow members of the majority group (ingroup)
stands in seeming contrast to several existing lines of research.
The study was carried out by monitoring white-black conversations and white-white with
one of the speakers being a control in the study (a confederate), who delivered strong or weak
arguments in favor of instituting comprehensive exams at universities. The participants then
watched a video of either a white or black control subject that delivered an argument on the topic
as well. The confederate then rated the person that they spoke with on their self-presentation.
The results concluded that the participants were much more agreeable when speaking
with black confederates than white confederates. When they were able to watch a video of a
black or white confederate deliver their argument, then the researchers found that the racial
aspect didnt play any role in changing attitudes or arguments.
A few of the confounding variables in this study were that when watching a video,
participants didnt pay much attention during the video segment of the research, leading to the
participants not obtaining a strong sense of understanding of what was being argued. In the same

sense, face to face contact always proves to be more beneficial when attempting to implement
thoughts or ideas to someone.
The overall findings were that minorities may have an edge in persuading majority
groups in face to face contact. They also concluded that while whites do try to seem nonprejudiced when interacting with blacks, they dont try to become anti-prejudice, but instead just
try to seem anti-prejudiced.

Source:
Norton, M., Dunn, E., Carney, D., & Ariely, D. (2007). The Persuasive Appeal of Stigma.
Harvard Business School, 1-52.