Ithaca College

At the annual convention of the Eastern Psychological Association, assistant psychology professor Jeff Holmes presented a paper addressing the pitfalls of current methods of measuring racial attitudes.

Studies have shown that situational pressures may impact the expression of racial attitudes, and it is unclear that contemporary racial attitude measures are less transparent than old-fashioned ones. In his research, participants completed attitude measures with instructions to respond honestly, to portray themselves positively, or to portray themselves negatively.

The results suggest that racial attitude measures are quite transparent and that respondents are successful in their efforts at conscious impression management.