Skin Color and Colorism: Global Research, Concepts, and Measurement

Dixon, Angela R.; Telles, Edward E.

doi:10.1146/annurev-soc-060116-053315

Cited by 228 publications

(240 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…We focus on skin color since this trait is given primacy by colorist theorists (e.g., [80,81]) and because we were able to calculate skin color scores for a larger subsample than for hair or eye color. HIrisPlex-S gives probabilities of the Fitzpatrick Scale skin type (i.e., Type I, scores 0-6, "palest, freckles"; Type II, scores 7-13; Type III-IV (combined), scores 14-27; Type V, scores 28-34; Type VI, scores 35-36, "deeply pigmented dark brown to darkest brown").…”

Section: Skin Hair and Eye Colormentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability

Lasker

Pesta

Fuerst

et al. 2019

Psych

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Using data from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort, we examined whether European ancestry predicted cognitive ability over and above both parental socioeconomic status (SES) and measures of eye, hair, and skin color. First, using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, we verified that strict factorial invariance held between self-identified African and European-Americans. The differences between these groups, which were equivalent to 14.72 IQ points, were primarily (75.59%) due to difference in general cognitive ability (g), consistent with Spearman's hypothesis. We found a relationship between European admixture and g. This relationship existed in samples of (a) self-identified monoracial African-Americans (B = 0.78, n = 2,179), (b) monoracial African and biracial African-European-Americans, with controls added for self-identified biracial status (B = 0.85, n = 2407), and (c) combined European, African-European, and African-American participants, with controls for self-identified race/ethnicity (B = 0.75, N = 7,273). Controlling for parental SES modestly attenuated these relationships whereas controlling for measures of skin, hair, and eye color did not. Next, we validated four sets of polygenic scores for educational attainment (eduPGS). MTAG, the multi-trait analysis of genome-wide association study (GWAS) eduPGS (based on 8442 overlapping variants) predicted g in both the monoracial African-American (r = 0.111, n = 2179, p < 0.001), and the European-American (r = 0.227, n = 4914, p < 0.001) subsamples. We also found large race differences for the means of eduPGS (d = 1.89). Using the ancestry-adjusted association between MTAG eduPGS and g from the monoracial African-American sample as an estimate of the transracially unbiased validity of eduPGS (B = 0.124), the results suggest that as much as 20%-25% of the race difference in g can be naïvely explained by known cognitive ability-related variants. Moreover, path analysis showed that the eduPGS substantially mediated associations between cognitive ability and European ancestry in the African-American sample. Subtest differences, together with the effects of both ancestry and eduPGS, had near-identity with subtest g-loadings. This finding confirmed a Jensen effect acting on ancestry-related differences. Finally, we confirmed measurement invariance along the full range of European ancestry in the combined sample using local structural equation modeling. Results converge on genetics as a potential partial explanation for group mean differences in intelligence.Psych 2019, 1 433 between ancestry and outcomes or that ancestry is a non-causal correlate of the trait in question that's actually caused by something else if the mediation is not spurious. Ultimately, controls alone cannot establish causality [50].Four studies we know of have related genetically-assessed ancestry to cognitive ability in samples of 25,51,52]. Others have done this for Hispanic Americans [24,25] and various groups in Latin America [53][54][55]. Of these, the earlier ones [51-54] re...

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Section: Skin Hair and Eye Colormentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability

Lasker

Pesta

Fuerst

et al. 2019

Psych

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“…41, 42 Skin-lightening creams can contain hydroquinone, topical corticosteroids, or inorganic mercury. 43 Multiple cases of mercury poisoning, characterized by damage to the kidneys and the central nervous system, have been reported following use of skin-lightening products.…”

Section: Skin-lightening Face Creamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Scholars point to the success of the global skin lightening industry as evidence for the global preference for white/light skin 42, 48 and colorism, a social hierarchy based on gradations of skin color that discriminates against darker skin. 42 A study of 45 skin bleaching products sold in Harlem, New York found product marketing of skin lighteners traffics in derogatory images that devalue Black skin in order to sell these products. 49 Lighter skin tone is an important predictor of higher self-esteem for Black women and is associated with higher educational attainment and earnings among women of color.…”

Section: Skin-lightening Face Creamsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The environmental injustice of beauty: framing chemical exposures from beauty products as a health disparities concern

Zota

Shamasunder

2017

American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology

158

127

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The ObGyn community has issued a call to action to prevent toxic environmental chemical exposures and their threats to healthy human reproduction. Recent committee opinions recognize that vulnerable and underserved women may be disproportionately impacted by environmental chemical exposures and recommend that reproductive health professionals champion policies that secure environmental justice. Beauty product use is an understudied source of environmental chemical exposures. Beauty products can include reproductive and developmental toxicants such as phthalates and heavy metals; however, disclosure requirements are limited and inconsistent. Compared to White women, women of color have higher levels of beauty product-related environmental chemicals in their bodies, independent of socioeconomic status. Even small exposures to toxic chemicals during critical periods of development, such as pregnancy, can trigger adverse health consequences such as impacts on fertility and pregnancy, neurodevelopment, and cancer. In this commentary, we seek to highlight the connections between environmental justice and beauty product-related chemical exposures. We describe racial/ethnic differences in beauty product use such as skin lighteners, hair straighteners, and feminine hygiene products as well as the potential chemical exposures and health risks associated with these products. We also discuss how targeted advertising can take advantage of mainstream beauty norms to influence use of these products. Reproductive health professionals can use this information to advance environmental justice by being prepared to counsel patients who have questions about toxic environmental exposures from beauty care products and other sources. Researchers and health care providers can also promote health-protective policies such as improved ingredient testing and disclosure for the beauty product industry. Future clinical and public health research should consider beauty product use as a factor that may shape health inequities in women’s reproductive health across the life course.

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“…Colorism, in and of itself, has influenced which individuals advance in the United States. The legacy of white supremacy and the perpetual degradation of dark bodies have associated lightness as desirable and darkness, especially in blackness, with subordination (Dixon and Telles ; Keith and Monroe ). This idea of colorism is not limited to the United States, as colorism has been found to impact perceptions in countries in Latin America, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia as well (Dixon and Telles ).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Individuals may make similar judgments of robots based on these same stereotypes. A large body of research (Dixon and Telles ; Hunter ; Jablonski , ; Jablonski and Chaplin ; Keith et al. ; Knight ) has demonstrated that humans make decisions about individuals based on color.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Black Robots Like Black People? Examining How Negative Stigmas about Race Are Applied to Colored Robots

Louine

May

Carruth

et al. 2018

Sociological Inquiry

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Recent scholarly research has begun to examine human perceptions toward robots. Researchers have also demonstrated that humans make decisions about individuals based on skin color. However, scant research examines the perceptions that individuals have toward robots of certain colors or whether these perceptions, both negative and positive, are predicted by demographic and contextual factors of either humans or robots. Using data from 504 adults responding to robots in separate scenarios across two surveys, we explore whether robot color has an impact on the human's perception of that robot. Respondents were presented with pictures of black, yellow, and neutral-colored robots and were asked to indicate their perceptions of the robots along a number of dimensions or were asked to indicate how they would react to the robot were they to encounter the robots in their daily activities. Findings suggest that (1) black robots were viewed as significantly stronger than yellow robots; (2) yellow robots were viewed as significantly more affable than black and neutral robots; and (3) respondents were more likely to move away from black robots (and less likely to stop when encountering black robots) than robots of other colors. Possible explanations and implications for these findings are also discussed.

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Skin Color and Colorism: Global Research, Concepts, and Measurement

Cited by 228 publications

References 112 publications

Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability

Global Ancestry and Cognitive Ability

The environmental injustice of beauty: framing chemical exposures from beauty products as a health disparities concern

Are Black Robots Like Black People? Examining How Negative Stigmas about Race Are Applied to Colored Robots

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