Images of African American Blacks

IMAGES OF BLACK AMERICANS
Then, “Them,” and Now, “Obama!”

Susan T. Fiske
Department of Psychology, Princeton University
Hilary B. Bergsieker
Department of Psychology, Princeton University
Ann Marie Russell
Department of Psychology, Princeton University
Lyle Williams
Department of Psychology, Princeton University

The way blacks are perceived by society have changed drastically over the past 60 years - depending on educational level and socio-economic group.

For societal views of Black Americans, a simple division by social class arrays poor Blacks and Black professionals. A study conducted by the Psychology Department of Princeton, funded and owned by the © 2009 W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.

Today unlike in a study conducted in 1932, [oor Blacks land with poor Whites in the United States and indeed with poor people in a dozen other countries, namely in the contemptible, low-low part of the space - which is low warmth - low competency. ~Cuddy et al., 2009; Fiske et al., 2002!.

Black professionals straddle two clusters: On the one side, they appear among the envied high-competence but low-warmth cluster of other professionals, rich people, and ethnic groups stereotyped as entrepreneurs.