The Role of Labeling and Bias in the Portrayals of Acts of “Terrorism”: Media Representations of Muslims vs. Non-Muslims

Abstract

Several high-profile negative events involving Muslim perpetrators have recently been covered by the media. We investigated whether the same negative actions are more likely to be labeled 'terrorism' when they are committed by Muslims than when they are committed by White non-Muslims. In Experiment 1 (n = 60), using a real article about a Muslim perpetrator and a modified version about a non-Muslim perpetrator, we found that participants were more likely to identify a crime as terrorism when it was perpetrated by a Muslim. The label 'terrorism' also mediated the effect of Muslim identity on negative judgments of the behavior. In Experiment 2 (n = 60) we replicated the results of Experiment 1 and clarified that the effects persisted when we used a real article about a non-Muslim perpetrator and a modified version about a Muslim perpetrator. We discuss implications for cross-group communication and representations of Muslims in the media.

Testing Hypersensitive Responses: Ethnic Minorities Are Not More Sensitive to Microaggressions, They Just Experience Them More Frequently

“…One cannot discount the wealth of quantitative, experimental evidence showing that ethnic minorities in predominantly White countries experience subtle prejudice in a variety of contexts. Even after controlling for or eliminating differences in behavior, qualifications, and other relevant information, ethnic minorities are less likely to receive offers of employment (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004; Booth, Leigh, & Varganova, 2012; Pager, 2003), treated with more suspicion in shopping areas (Schreer, Smith, & Thomas, 2009), interpreted as more threatening (Mendes, Blascovich, Lickel, & Hunter, 2002), and judged more harshly for the same behaviors (Sommers & Ellsworth, 2000; West & Lloyd, 2017). These differences are detectable even in self-described egalitarian people (Balsam et al, 2011; Nosek, Greenwald, & Banaji, 2007; Solorzano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000), though they are often subtly presented, due to widespread concerns about being or appearing egalitarian (Butz & Plant, 2009; Legault, Green-Demers, Grant, & Chung, 2007; Pearson et al, 2009; West & Hewstone, 2012).…”

Prejudiced and unaware of it: Evidence for the Dunning-Kruger model in the domains of racism and sexism

“…Citing a few examples, even when all other differences are eliminated or accounted for, studies show that ethnic minorities (compared to White people) are treated with more suspicion in public places (Schreer, Smith, & Thomas, 2009), considered less desirable as romantic partners (Mendelsohn, Shaw Taylor, Fiore, & Cheshire, 2014;West, 2018;West, Lowe, & Marsden, 2017), less likely to receive offers of employment (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004;Booth, Leigh, & Varganova, 2012;Pager, 2003), judged more harshly for crimes they commit (Sommers & Ellsworth, 2000;West & Lloyd, 2017), more likely to be shot by police officers (Correll, Park, Judd, & Wittenbrink, 2007;Plant & Peruche, 2005), and less likely to receive adequate care from physicians (Green et al, 2007).…”

The socialpsychology of Islamist terror – interdisciplinary perspectives on violence and ISIS totalitarian structures

“…At the same, it must be pointed out that the Western, particularly the public realm of politics and media coverage, behaves in a similar way in so far as they draw on simplified representations of Islamist perpetrators by depicting them as actors who had been criminals for their entire life and who are partly illiterate and particularly pathological (Hekmatpour & Burns, 2019;Vidino et al, 2017;West & Lioyd, 2017). This is disastrous in many ways.…”