ATTITUDES TO‘NARD NEGROES AS REFLECTED IN THE PICTURE PREFERENCES OF INSTITUTIONALIZED WHiTE MORONS Thesis fior the Degree of M, A. MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE George Rifley Ashman 1953 .v. . .u x “‘3‘ ‘ 7 . z.» . .u..tn.e..-m.w.¥...., . Invermrn 3... Thainuoeufifildmtdm thesis entitled ATTITUDES TOWARUS NEGROES AS REFHECTED IN THE DICTURE PREFERENCES OF INSTITUTIONALIZED WHITE MORONS It? presented by Illt Riley Aahman Gearge has been accepted towards fulfillment of the requirements for n, A. degree mmmalogy Major professor _ I o . ‘ I I O I. -& ' o h I . n 1' 5 I. ’I ‘ 0 '. n .. ) , I V ' 'x‘.‘ .. l ‘ I - ! '. 0‘ - \ c ‘ I I II .4 '. l I \ - .‘ . 4‘ '0" - O ‘I‘ _ l I ' . t '. ' 'I. I . 2‘ ,c ’u I .~ 2 1 I .f.‘ ' . I " I ', _ , V ' 5. ..J‘V- 7 s '. . _‘ ' J . ‘. El. . 'J . V - O (Eff; ‘1' \' - o C a. \ I I ‘A O a V I- ;t‘ 1 I O .‘2 " . I! J. A v I .1 r '. I: ' t. 5 _ I I H ’. I _~ I! " _‘ ..' ; I|‘ kn Ia}. .f' I" . f ‘. - :{A r‘> -‘ ‘33.). H r :‘J‘ " ’I‘N- " 14' — E ‘ . .. . I. ' J v I .3" g { . J.‘ i I. e “f" . . a 3‘“ w - f. u "‘ ' ,. ‘ .‘_‘- ,' l -.“‘- \V*.. ’u‘. .\I x t‘ . " \ '. ’. -.__' 0- .II‘. \fi ..': .5 -' “~ w z \9 ‘3': . -L- "'I ‘i ' ' ‘ I . ‘ - ' a V S.‘ A "I j s . ‘-' ‘ . _ .. ‘ .‘ . —.* .‘ 0. '/~ . J ‘v . J I- .f" .l.;.‘ ’ [7"‘-\Q‘I ' ( I ‘ ' ¥~ . .30 1 \' o ‘. I o '\ 4“ -‘-" . '. 'V'OQg‘ fl, . 1 I ' “if...“ i " ’§l ' . l . ”‘_ l ‘ ~ . .' v ‘ ' '. 0‘ .I ‘ "‘ I. A - w \ ‘ I ‘ ‘ '- ', .\ *3 W" - 5 w - 4 ) I , .° _ 1 .0' - Ol " I ‘ I I" ‘V . u‘ ,. '9’. ‘ ' w! ' L 1 \J A .‘ ‘3. ‘ - r 0f. .. I i I (1 . ' ' .. . Q (: . \ '-, 0k. '3'; t' . { - . ‘ , ' -.‘ ‘ '.' . -' ‘§ A ..‘i a. s , mm». 2» .. x ' 1' . } " \ ‘ {-2.1 . \ f o y f. i 1,; 9).“. . \: u ‘ I ’ I ;s . . ' a 4%,, , I . 9 I . L.“ I. . fl ‘ ‘ \ D ‘ ‘5 . ' \ ' ~ ‘. ' I . | - E ‘.. " .l r - t A . t . ‘ n ; -’ dh‘ NI: ' -. . I 'r 1 - , x ’2‘} ° . ' ‘I . ' . ’ l . ~ I . I K? . ' I . -. .. o ‘ ‘ ‘ 'K - .I! . ‘ ‘ “ ~d . { '. r. ' ‘ - ’ l“ J) ' ' - . -( a y 4' a "J ’ ‘ -‘ f) o r ‘0 I . o ' ~ . t ‘ t . \ ’ f . ‘ t | . 3' -e 'L" u "'0 ‘ I." f V ' - o ‘ -- _ J. I t . ‘ I- ' I . V .' J ,-l .' “ ' ' 1 I ’ -' \J l ‘7’ I . “.9! ll \ . o 0 . ‘ J x ‘ I. ”\‘J. “\ ' . r . --‘- .~ xxx. - I f “l_ I'I ‘ ( Q. '. 3’" '1‘- .‘\O 9.. h " ‘ ' ' r”! ." ('I' ' ‘- '" is s f- . I . ‘ .I .N.- ‘.'.' . , . v, N 4030135 +44 & ATTITUDES TOJARD EEGRDES AS REFLECTED IN THE PICTUDE EECES OF INSTITUTIOHALIHJD WEI ‘l’fi'Dfi . .JJ P33} . By George Riley Ashman A.THESIS submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of I-iASTER OF ARTS Department of Psychology 1953 THESIs AC KNOMJEDGLEITI' s The author wishes to exnress his sincere thanks to Dr. Albert 1. Rabin for his guidance and friendly interest in this investiga- tion. Grateful acknowledgment is also due to Dr. Iona C. Hamlett of The Fort Wayne State School for her generous assistance through_ out the study. The efforts on the part of Mr. E. L. V. Shelly of the Boy's Vocational School in Lansing and Dr. Marie Skodak of the Dearborn Public Schools in obtaining subjects are also greatly appreciated. TABLE OF CONTENTS ACEIOI-JLIDGIKEZTI...................... 11 CHAPTER I. HISTORY AYD STATE BET OF THE PROBLEM . . . . . Review of the Literature . . . . . . . . . . . 3 The Problem Redefined . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 CHAPTER II. IATERIALS ATD PRCCDDURE . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Rationale for Ihterials . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Source of the Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Subjects and Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Statistical Treatment of the Data . . . . . . . 13 Critique of Lethodology . . . . . . . . . . . 15 STAPZEI III. FIRDINGS AHD IRWE.'RETATICU . . . . . . . . . . . 17 General Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Discussion of Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 CRKPTER IV. SUREKRY AVD COVCLUSISE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 General Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 LIST OF TABLES TABLE I. RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE VARIOUS GROUPS EMPLOYEDINTHISSTUDY................ TABLE II. FREQUENCIES WITH WHICH WHITE AND NEGRO PHOTOGRAPHS OF MALES AND FEMALES WERE CHOSEN AS PREFERRED . . . . . . TABLE III. STATISTICAL COMPARISONS BETWEEN THE MENTAL DEFECTIVE AND NORMAL GROUPS WITH RESPECT TO THEIR PREFERENCES OF MALE AND FEMALE NEGRO PICTURES. . . . . . . . . . . TABLE IV. STATISTICAL COMPARISONS OF THE PREFERENCES OF NEGRO PICTURES RELATED To THE FACTORS OF SEX AND INSTITUTIONALIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1. GRAPH SHOWING RELATIVE FREQUENCIES FOR THE VARIOUS GROUPS IN CHOOSING MALE NEGRO PHOTOGRAPHS AS PREFERRED FIGURE 2. GRAPH SHOWING RELATIVE FREQUENCIES FOR THE VARIOUS GROUPS IN CHOOSING FEMALE NEGRO PHOTOGRAPHS AS PREFERRED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . FIGURE 3. GRAPH SHOWING THE TOTAL RELATIVE FREQUENCIES FOR CHOOSING NEGRO PHOTOGRAPHS (BOTH MALE AND FEMALE) AS PREFERRED 0 O I O O O O O O O O O O I O O O O O O O O CHAPTER I HISTORY AND STATEI'J'ZNT OF PROBLEM That the Negro occupies a generally inferior position in the .social matrix of our particular society is recognized by the scientist and lay person alike. Thus, the chance of any particular individual Negro achieving a position of leadership and respect in any group made up of both Negro and White individuals seems rather slim and is note- worthy when it occurs. The chance of a number of Negroes achieving a position of dominance in such a mixed group seems to be much slimmer still and even more noteworthy. Such a phenomenon does appear to exist, however, and has been Observed by the writer and others. The study of this phenomenon is the subject of this thesis. It was observed by the writer, while working among institutional— ized mental defectives, that the Negro defectives appeared to enjoy a favorable social position in relation to the white patient. The Negroes enjoyed equality with the whites in general and in some cases becoming leaders in color mixed groups. This situation seemed partic- ularly outstanding among the female defectives. In some cases the positive attitude of the white female toward the Negro female seemed to be one of admiration with various gifts and favours being offered _to the latter by the white girls. Similar observations among defective girls have been made by Abel (1,2,3). An explanation for the foregoing observations seems possible from three standpoints. First of all, it may be considered that de- fectives are relatively unprejudiced against Negroes due to their lack of atility to learn these prejudices, concomitant with their general lack of learning ability. However, lack of prejudice would not ac- count for the social position of the Negroes. Secondly, as pointed out by Abel (2) the caste-like system of the community functions much less rigidly among inmates in an institution. Hence, the Negro may ex- press his pent-up feelings of frustration by develooing attitudes of- superiority toward whites who are no longer in a position more favor- able tnan his own. A third explanation for the phenomenon as observed among females is that, as Abel (2) has suggested, the Negro girls are sexually attractive to the white girls. The sexual attractiveness of .- tne Negro girls, according to Abel (P), is a product of their aggress— 6 , Q.. - .’ ‘. iveness and dominance which the white girls interpret as ”malenessgfl. She also states that the attractiveness of the Negro girls is further enhanced by their "uninhibited emotional expressions and some of their physical characteristics." It was felt by the writer that if an objective technique for study- ing the preference or non-preference of Negro boys and girls were an- plied to various groups of mental defectives and controls in the normal population, it should reveal the extent to which the phenomenon exists and might furthermore reveal some factors related to it. Review gi'the Literature As mentioned earlier, observations similar to the author's have been made and reported by Abel (1,2,3). In studying institutionalized Negro and white defective girls, she found that only the Negroes became outstanding leaders and that the castelike color system was not en- forced. She further observed t.at the Negro girls tended to be sex- ually attractive to the white girls. This she explains on the basis of the masculinity of the Negro girls. The aggressiveness, she contends, is due to the unaccustomed equal footing with the whites. The leader— ship of the Negro girls is thus felt to be a product of these two factors; the sexual attractiveness and aggressiveness. Abel and Kinder (4) had previously stated that aggressiveness in adolescent girls is admired by their female peers. In one of the papers referred to above, Abel (3) reported the re- sults of‘a study designed to test the hypothesis that, among institution- alized sub—normal girls, the Negro girls would show dominant behavior over the white girls in a controlled experimental setting. The ex- .periments consisted of presenting such problems as estimating the quantity of loose pearls in a dish to grouns consisting of a Negro girl and one or two white partners. he members of each gIOIp were matched for C. A. within one year and for I. Q. within five points, and, as far as possible for length of institutionalization. The criterion for dominance within a group was essentially one member controlling the answers within the groups. Using the above criteria, it was found as follows: The Negro girls imposed their judgement unon the white girls about twice as frequently as the white girls suc- ceeded in having the Negro girls accept their opinion . . . The dominance of the Fegro is reduced only if here is a discrepancy in length of institutionalization between the partners of three years or more. The Negro girls show marked dominance over white girls under the conditions of our experimental settings. (o. 436) Hays (6), in a recent paper, reported on the relationship between mental level and friend selection among institutionalized defective girls. This investigation involved the voting of the subjects on such questions as, "Who in this building is your best friend?" as found that in comparing Negro and white subjects that, "choices of white sib- jects went almost exclusively to other white subjects.” He offered as an explanation for the discrepancy between his and Abel's findings the fact that the mean 0. A. of the group in his study is only 14.02 years and the mean 0. A. of the Fegro segment of this above group is only 12.66 years whereas Abel's subjects were all 14 years or older. He therefore suggested that sexual attraction is somewhat untenable as an eXplanation for expected acceptance within his groups as they contained a large percentage of prepubescent girls, both Negro and white. Further- more, he sugrested regional differences in racial attitudes night ac- count for the difference in findings. The Problem Redefined A review of the literature reveals that to date there has been no report of an attempt to compare relative preference shown by the female white defectives for the hegro girls with the Negro-white preference of the normal white girls. In addition, information seems lacking concerning how other defective groups such as males and older females compare in their Negro-white preferences with similar normal groups and the female adolescent defectives. The problem undertaken in this study, therefore, was to measure the picture preferences of white mental defectives and comparable groups, in order to attempt to answer the following questions: (1) Do white mental defectives prefer Negro pictures to pictures of whites? (2) Do the mental defectives show a higher level of preference for Negro pictures than do normals of similar chron010gical age, mental age, and institutional status? CHAPTER II MATERIALS AID PROCEDURE Rationale for Materials It was felt that in selecting a technique for measuring attitudes in the defective children, care should be taken that the method be as simple as possible due to the limited intelligence of the subjects. Furthermore, it was deemed necessary to simplify the method of reSpond- ing to the experimental stimuli to a point where the examiner could be reasonably certain that instructions were understood. A further crit- erion for measurement with defectives is that the method be as non- verbal as possible. On the basis of the foregoing, the logical choice of stimulus materials was photographs of Negro and white boys and girls. As Jahoda et al (8) state, photographs are ideal for the study of attitudes of children with limited literacy. They point out that verbal com— prehension is needed only to the extent of the general test instructions. Furthermore, reading ability is not required. They feel that photographs also are desirable because of their high interest value. Herowitz (7) used a series of Negro and white photographs in studya ing the develOpment of attitudes toward Negroes in pre-adolescent school boys. He utilized a "show me" technique where the subjects were asked such questions as; "Show me all those you want to sit next to you on a streetcar." He also had the boys pick out the one they liked best, next best etc. He found that this technique appeared to yield more discriminating reactions from the boys than did verbal instruments. Furthermore, he found that the results of the “show me" technique showed a high degree of relationship with his subject's actual be- havioral biases toward Negroes. One important assumption underlying the use of photographs such as these, in studying attitudes, is that all photographs are of ap- proximately equal attractiveness. Great care was necessary in the selection of the photographs to insure that, within reasonable limits, the pleasantness of facial expression is equal, that the pose is standard, and that style of clothing is not unusual. It was felt that a bust photograph would help equalize the stimulus value of the pictures. A final factor in the selection of the photographs was that they be of a standard age group and as close to the chron010gical age of the ad- olescent experimental subjects as possible. Source 9}; the Materials Twenty photOgranhs, ten of Negroes and ten of whites, were selected from among several hundred of the year book pictures of a sophomore high school class. The ten Negro pictures were equally divided as to sex ~.five of males and five of females. The same division was made with the pic- tures of the white members of the high school class. The pictures were combined into two groups for test presentation. The first was a group of males consisting of the five male Negro mem- bers and the five male white members. The second group was of female pictures in similar racial combination. The pictures were of standard size and were placed in two rows of five each. They were numbered from one to ten and the Negro and white photographs were mixed randomly. These two sets of pictures were then reproduced as arranged above on two projector slides. This allowed the experimenter to present the photographs to all of the members of the non-defective individual groups at one time. The experimental set of boys' photographs may be found on the following page. Subjects and Procedure The characteristics of the various groups utilized in this study are shown in Table l. The adolescent mental defectives making up groups A and B were chosen from among the pstients of The Fort Wayne, Indiana State School, a state institution for the training and care of the men— tally deficient. The criteria for the selection of these subjects in addition to those criteria shown in Table 1 included freedom from psychosis and absence of any serious sensory defects. All subjects in this study were white. Two adolescent groups of older white defectives were obtained from the Fort Wayne institution. These groups (C and D) had been institution- alized for a longer period of time than the younger groups (A and B). The normal, non—institutionalized subjects (groups B, F, G and H) were from the Dearborn (Michigan) public school system. No psychometric data were available on these subjects, but it seems reasonable to as— sume that their mean mental level was approximately average. The sub- jects in groups G and H (normal adolescents) were selected in order to compare their picture preferences with those of the mentally de’ectives of the same chronological age. Groups E and F (normal preadolescents) were chosen in order to compare tflcir preferences with those of defect- ives of a similar mental age. An additional group of subjects was obtained from the Boys Vocational School in Lansing, Michigan - a state institution for the training of delinquents. These subjects of normal intelligence were selected for the purposes of comparing t eir picture preferences with the preferences 10 of similarly institutionalized defectives. It should be pointed out that this control is not ideal as the delinquent boys had been in- stitutionalized for a shorter period of time (Mean 1.8 years) than had been the comparable mental defective group (Mean 3.3 years). The eXperimental procedure consisted of showing the two sets of photographs, one set at a time, to the members of the various groups. In the case of the mental defectives, the stimulus material was shown to each of the individual group members separately. For the remaining groups, the sets of photographs were projected onto a screen and the mem- bers responded simultaneously. The experimental instructions were as follows for the defectives: “See all of these pictures? I want you to look at all of them carefully and then point to the one you like the best." The subject's response was then recorded and he was instructed to pick out the one he liked next best. After the second response was recorded, the subject was finally instructed to pick out the one he liked next best to the first two. The instructions for the non-defective groups were siailar, except that the subjects were asked to write down the numbers of their choices rather than to point them out and they were cautioned to arrive at their choices individually. Every subject thus made a total of six out of twenty possible choices, three of their choices being of male pictures and three of females. As every group was made up of twenty subjects, the total choices for any one group was 120 pictures out of a possible 400. The rationale for presenting the stimuli to each individual sep- arately among the defectives and having them point out rather than write 11 down their choices was again to simplify the situation as much as pos- sible for then. Unfortunately, it was not possible to dunlicate this procedure in the other groups due to certain time and physical limitations. However, it seems doubtful that any systematic errors were thus introduced which would render the cnoices of the two grouos incomparable. l2 .ueaueee eoaomdaaenna Heine: .oaneaaeve ease ouhveaosohea 92 # w.H n.NOH mOHnmo w.mH 2.: T maneammdaoc eflda coeaHe uncapavapmcH ewenekq .3. «van on o.oH wudmmwcz aneoeeaond eaeaoh amassed s Ifign on oooH \4uaaaummlll 9:00m0H0u4 on... H swapped e open on c.» manage: paoeeoHoceopm eaeaoh oueuehq e Gain on «.w manage: anoeeoaoceonm can: m.¢ as «osmn b.mN umuqmumuual 0H0 nausea m.b H.0m onOm doom as He 0H6: mom «.mm molmn n.0H mHInH 0N \uunuqququI unecooaond eHuaoh G O H.m N.om ooaHm 9.0H aHIQH ON ”.838qu aHQOeeHoud o3 GOHH HHdflOHv lflflwvonH HO endow smear OGOH use: owned .c.H .¢.o nee: annex .10 a guano Hanan mHmh_zH QHHQQAIH mmDch MDOHm<> nun kc moHamHmmhuqmnmo sadwwfimu H Hands 13 Statistical Treatment g§_the Data In order to measure the relative preference for Negro nhotORFBWLS between the various defective and normal grouns, the following statis- tical comnarisons were made, holding certain experimental variables constant: 1. Groups A and B (the adolescent defectives) with G and H (the adolescent normals) holding chronological age constant. 2. Groups A and B (the adolescent defectives) with E and F (the preadolescent normals) holding mental age constant. 3. Groups A (the male adolescent defectives) with I (the in- stitutionalized male delinquents) holding institutionalization constant. The crucial variable in these comnarisons mentioned above is mental status (defective vs. normal). In addition to the above, the following group comnarisons were made: 4. Group G (the normal male adolesconts) with I (the male in- stitutionalized delinquents) to ascertain the differential ef— fect of institutionalization on their preferences for Negro pic— tures, holding intellectual level constant. 5. Groups A and B (the young adolescent defectives) with C and D (the older defectives) in an attempt to determine the effect that the differences in the length of institutiona_ization had on the mental defective's preference for Negro photograwhs. 6. All male grouos with all female groups to measure the reliability of the differences in preferences between the two sexes. 14 The graohic representation of the data revealed incidentally some sizable differences between certain grouns. Two final comparisons were consequently made to test the significance of these differences. These were: 7. The choices of male Negro pictures on the Dart of all male subjects as comnared with the choices of all female subjects of Negro pictures representing sex. 8. Grouns E and F (preadolescent normals) with the remaining groups (all adolescent groups plus the adult defectives). In all cases, the comnarisons were made for choices of male photo- graphs and female photogranhs separately. The statistic applied for comparative purposes was chi square using a two by two contingency table as described by Edwards (5). The cells were divided into white vs. Negro choices for the two groups or sets of groups being comoared. All choices (lst, 2nd and 3rd) were treated equally for statistical purnoses. The number of Negro or white choices were merely summated for each subject. 15 Critigue 2§.Hethodo10gy Certain methodological difficulties arose in the course of the study tnat led to the employment of a seemingly questionable procedure. By anticipating and enumerating some of the questions, we may forstall much criticism. Already mentioned was the fact that the actual experimental pro- cedure differed somewhat between the defective and normal groups. HoWH ever, if the pictures had been shown to the defectives in a group situation, as was the case with the normals, it might have complicated the situation to the point where an error of misunderstanding would have achieved some prominence. Thus, the method used while eXperimentally inexact was felt to be the most advantageous. Another criticism which might be raised is that the selection of white children from the Dearborn school system was questionable, as this community bars Negroes from residence and thus is possibly an atypical pOpulation in terms of racial attitudes. An examination of the data showed no significant differences, however, between the normal adolescent boys from Dearborn and the group of delinquent boys. One major omission in this study was a group of institutionalized non-defective girls which in the light of the results would be of great interest for comparative purposes. Such a groip was not available for this study. Similarly, a group of young institutionalized normals similar to the Dearborn grade school children would likewise be valu- able for comparative purposes, but again, these groups were not avail— able for this purpose. 16 Another factor requiring consideration is as follows. It would be foolhardy to assume that a "choice of photograph" technique such as was used in this study is a direct measure of such a diffuse and complex attribute as an attitude, nor would we be so brash as to con- sider it an adequate measure of relative prejudice against the Negro. However at least part of the variance which is associated with the selection of Negro vs. white photographs would seem to be logically related to the variance associated with the actual rejection of, or positive behavior toward, Negroes and whites in social interaction. To this extent, then, the techniques employed would seem to at least partially reflect implicit or explicit positive or negative feelings toward real people. Certainly, a racial concept in photo- graphic form is no further removed from its empirical referent than is the word Negro. The major shortcoming of this eXperimental design is essentially the same that one generally encounters in practically most research on social phenomena, i.e. the multitude of uncontrollable, complex- variables. This difficulty makes it hazardous to attribute some experimental results to that factor which characterizes the group in the mind of the experimenter. It is with this in mind that the author offers his interpretations of the experimental findings. CHAPTER III FIR NGS AND INTERPRETATIOYS gyneral Findings Tie results of this study are shown statistically in Table II, Table III, and Table IV, and graphically in Figures 1, 2 and 3. Table II shows the raw frequencies with which male and female Negro photOgranhs were chosen as preferred by all groups. It is im- mediately evident that all groups were greatly biased in favor of the white photographs, as within the group showing tke greatest preference for H gross the legro choices did not exceed twenty—five choices out of the one hundred and twenty preferred photographs. The significance of this pronortion is at the 1 percent level of confidence with a t value of 6.00. Table III and Table IV present the chi square values for all of the statistical comparisons between groups. Those comparisons in Table III test the difference in Negro photo preferences of the mentally defectives and groups of comparable C.A.: M.A.; 9nd in— stitutionalization. The chi square alues fall below significance in all cases. Hence, mental defectives do not seem to differ in their Negro-white picture preferences than do comparable persons of normal intelligence. As shown in Table IV, no significant difference was obtained in comparing groin G (normal adolescent males) with group I (institition- alized delinquent males) and groups A and B (young mental defectives) with groups C and D (older mental defectives). 18 The graphs in Figures 1 and 2 indicate that all of the various groups had greater preference for Negro photographs of the same sex as the subjects. As shown in Table IV, statistical analysis of this relationship reveals that the male subjects chose Negro male photos with greater frequency than did female subjects. The chi square value for this difference is 7.23, which is significant at the 1 percent level of confidence. Similarly, in choosing Negro female photos, the female subjects showed a greater number of preferences than did the male subjects. The chi square value of this difference is 14.52. This again is significant at the 1 percent level of confidence. An inspection of Figure 3 shows that the youngest normals (groups E and F) showed much less preference for Negro photographs than did the remaining group. When a statistical comparison between the incidence of selection of Negro pictures in the two youngest groups was made with the incidence in all remaining groups, a chi square value of 5.96 is ob~ tained. This figure indicates a significance of the difference at the 2 percent level of confidence. Additional data, not included in the tables, is brought to light in the following paragraphs. While it has been demonstrated that the several groups tended to show greater preference for Negro photograpns of the same sex, this sex preference was much more marked in the female subjects than in the male subjects. When the frequencies of the white females choosing female Negro photOgraphs is compared with the frequencies of male groups choos- ing male Negro photographs, a chi square of 6.05 for the difference between the frequencies was obtained. This value is significant at the 2 percent level of confidence. 19 4 .fiaanfioc pa MOH 5 mm OH on cans coaaaa H hoapfiflmfi II nHuEhnz nu ma ¢H H« o qm enoomoaouq m . nausea nauahoz .II: E SH 3 on o R £08303 c 0H»: «Adana—"I'll. MH bOH OH on m hm uncouOHocd h oHuaom ufiuahpz nH boa m mm m Nu ancoaoaonu u cant mmrwpoomoa am mo mm m< o «m cHo a oHuaoh mmnmmmmwmmIIIIp Hm $0 w an MH 5% 0H0 o QHUS ‘ 55385 MN b0 5H M< @ «a HHOOMOHouq m oHuaom w ill 0H NOH m Nu OH Om afloonOHocd 4 oHll 196.: 33: on»: SE: 95.2 32: J unaunwoposm mandnmoaonm nanunmoponm ahead H38. 33....“ .3. .‘ ...mo ‘o. ”co 2.. SEE? ... u 2.1.; gamma . q .42.; ED ”51 a: was. .8 Egg 832 a: Em: 5E: FE. mfifiganfi HH Hamqa ”.453 20 .aoco¢hu no cosmov one # . an b HH b.0H can conga: .omoz @800 CW.“ 0800 IgOflDHHWfipm—HH . 35238 m «H b.0H uncomoaou4 . cad: . mama IIII. m NH N.¢ uuoz uuoo .mi 8.m .mi «8; $303.5 6» woON M.MH OOPHuUOMOG «nooaoaonc N.¢N «.mH uHufinoz phonon and .sz voo.H .m.z omo.o H .m> m.o~ m.mH nopfivoomon accouoaoud condo gnuaam .aouono uopogm condo onusvm nooogo noaogm a: Juana Eu. 9&2 .13.» a .4333. Eu 9%... .3. u a 95 t * mMMDBUHm Qmomz mudsmh and mud: mo mmuzmmmhmmm MHmma OB Hommmmm msHk_mmDomU ndxmoz and m>Haouhuh Adazm= mma zmmkamm mzomHM4maoo AdUHhMHHde HHH Handy 21 .novoohm no ooumou 0:0 t 0.3 «.3 uoaaaom 24 . HoboH RH omm.oa “H mm.b .u> b.NH b.0H «can: add a] m.NH ‘ b.0H soc nonwad two: ”H009 cm.“ L N800 IflOHPpQHPMGH 00> , uHuahoz b.oH o.mH onoouoHouq can: condo onusom noaono novogm ounce causmw nonoso maponm udmaaudm ago chum: oausoh u aunanmdm «am can»: can: & ngsona t. .20HH4NHA¢20HHDBHBm2H nz¢ Hum MO mmoaudh fins 09 amadamm mHM§BOHm omumz ho mmozmmmhmmm was he mzomHM4m=oo A4UHBMHH43m pH mumdh 22 anyone \\\ k\ \V nmmmmmmmm m< mmmdmvoaomm omwmz mH¢z_cszoomo zH mmbomv mDOHm<> MMB mom mmezmnammh H>HB¢Amm oaHzcmm mmHH¢Amm 94909 HEB UZHZQmm mmdmc m mmDUHh saatoqo JO Kauaubazg Discussion of Results 1 o The finding that there is essentially no difference between the preference shown for Negro nhotogrnnhs, between the mentally defective and the normal grouns, suggests that the observed leadershin of the Negro in an institution is a function of much more than any positive feelings toward them on the part of the white patient. Perhaps the explanation that the Negro is more aggressive in this setting and thus achieves leadership through his aggression is a more tenable exolanation of his social position in light of these findings. As mentioned before, the phenomenon of social dominance of the Negro was more noticeable among the females than the males in the in- stitution. In this regard it is interesting to note that all of the female white groups in this study show significantly greater preference for Negro nhotogranhs of females than do all of the male grouns for male photograrhs. This would suggest that some snecial variable or variables were present in nroducing these relatively positive feelings. This "soecial attraction" is equally outstanding among the normal adolescent girls, the older defective fexales, and the female adolescent defectives. It is not as prominant, however, among the prendolescent normal girls. This discrepancy is similar to that found in the lack of Negro preferences among the orevubescent white defective fenales in Hays' (6) studv and those preferences observed among adolescent white female defectives in Abel's (1,2,3) studies where the Negro females are preferred as sex partners. The snecial attraction among the female grouns for the Hegro female, as reflected in their nicture preferences, (\J O ) may have a sexual basis. However, further investigation of this phen— omenon would be necessary before such an interpretation would have any validity. The finding that the younger group showed significantly less preference for Negro photos than the remaining groups suggests an interesting hypothesis concerning the develonment of racial attitudes. From the findings obtained, it would apnear that the non—preference shown toward Negroes does not increase from prepubescence to adolescence. Moreover, it tenis to become modified and lessened in the later age period. This may be a function of increasing social awareness and more complete social integration. This area would seem to be a fruitful one for further investigation. CHAPTER IV SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS General Summary The purpose of this study was to attempt to isolate the variables which would account for an observed, unique leadership position of the Negro patient in an institution for the mentally defective. This was attempted by measuring the picture preferences of the white defectives in choosing between Negro and white photographs, and comparing these preferences with normal control groups. These several normal groups were matched with the defectives for one of the following variables, one at a time: chronological age, mental age, and institutionalization. The method used to determine picture preferences was to have all of the subjects choose the three most liked pictures from among a group of both five white and five Negro male photographs and a similarly mixed group of female photographs. Every attempt was made to standard- ize the photographs which were of adolescent high school students. The picture choices were divided into white and Negro and the various experimental and control groups were compared statistically by a 2 by 2 chi square table. The Negro and white choices were treated equally regardless of ranking. All preferences were merely summated for any subject. 28 Conclusions A statistical analysis of the relative preference of Negro photo- graphs shown by the various white defective and normal groups and an interpretation of these results lead to the following conclusions: 1. 2. All groups show a marked bias against the Negro photographs. There is no essential difference between the preference for Negro photograrhs among the defectives and normal groups of the same chronolOgical age, mental age, or under in— stitutionalized conditions. The white subjects show a significantly greater preference for Negro photOgraphs of the same rather than the Opposite sex. This sex preference is significantly greater for the female subjects than the male subjects suggesting a "special at— traction“ for the Negro female within the female groups. The younger children showed significantly less preference for Negro photos than did tne remaining groups suggesting less acceptance of the Negro among then. The observed leadership position of the Negro patient in the mental defective institution does not seem to be based on any unique positive feelings toward the Negro on the part of the white patients. This leadership may be based on factors not tapped in the present study. 29 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPTY Negro--white interpersonal relationships among Amer. J. Kent. Def., 1. Abel, T. 1L institutionalized subnormal girls. Def., 46. 325-339. Dominant behavior of institutionalized subnormal J. Kent. 1942, Amer.._ 2. Abel, T. M. Negro girls; An experimental study. 1943, 47, 439-486. Negro--white interpersonal relationships in a 5. 3. Abel, T. M. limited environment. Trans. N. Z. Acad. Sci., 1943, T e Subnormal Adolescent Girl. Abel, T. M. and Kinder, E. F. New York, Columbia University Frees, l9é2. New York, Rhinehart 4. Statistical Analysis. 5. Edwards, Allen L. and Co. 6. Hays, W. mental level and friend selection anong institution— alized defective irls. Amer. g. Kent. Def., 1951, 56, 28, No. 194. Relations. 7. Horowitz, E. L. The develOpment of attitudes toward the Negro. Research hethods in Social Arch. Psychol., 1935, Jahoda, Deutsch, and Cook. New York, Dryden Press. 1951. 8. Basig_Processes. 1, C v: ’4 Wu, ' ~ ' . i '4. sh. “1’64 4 ' I ,' , A ‘ ' '.l G,” ‘ o 2.: in", ' ' ' s ‘ 0 , 1 ‘ 9‘. (3'1” "(3) {é‘g’fik . 2. ‘, :. ‘¥'\‘ 4‘ “ I 'IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII IIII ' 31293 01730 6097