When the Chrysler car company released a new model of its Dodge Coronet in 1967, the theme of its advertising campaign was the “White Hat Special.” Some of the ads featured cartoon cowboys riding around “keepin’ the prices low,” whereas others had the ubiquitous “Dodge Girl” in her signature white Stetson, chirping: “Only the good guys could put together a deal like this.”
These ads did not need any elaboration. Madison Avenue knew that potential buyers had all been raised on film and TV Westerns and were familiar with the symbolism of white hats. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, the Lone Ranger—these cinematic heroes wore white hats, and bad guys wore black. It was all very simple.
Simple, but maybe not all that original. The colors white and black have carried layers of moral meaning since long before Americans’ infatuation with cowboys and automobiles. Indeed, some scientists believe that our conception of blackness and sin may be entangled with a fundamental and ancient fear of dirt and contagion that remains deeply wired in our neurons today.
Mental Mismatch
Two University of Virginia psychologists recently decided to explore this provocative idea in the laboratory. Gary D. Sherman and Gerald L. Clore wanted to know if common metaphors may be more than mere rhetorical devices, if in fact they might be deep embodiments of moral thinking. They decided to test the link between white and virtue (and black and sin) as part of this larger question.
The psychologists adapted a reaction-time test from the 1930s called the Stroop test. You may know it from the Internet, where it circulates as a kind of parlor game. In the test the names of colors are printed in a mismatched color—say, the word “blue” may be yellow in hue—and you must very quickly indicate the color rather than the word’s meaning. The task is hard because our mind wants to read the word, and slow reaction time is taken as a sign of cognitive disconnect or conflict.
In Sherman and Clore’s version of the Stroop, volunteers read not the names of colors but words with strong moral overtones: greed and honesty, for example. Some of the words were printed in black and some in white, and they flashed rapidly on a screen. As with the original Stroop, a fast reaction time was taken as evidence that a connection was mentally automatic and natural; hesitation was taken as a sign that a connection did not ring true. The researchers wanted to see if the volunteers automatically linked immorality with blackness, as in black ink, and virtue with whiteness.
And they did, so quickly that the connections could not possibly be deliberate. When moral words were printed in white and immoral words in black, reaction time was significantly faster than when words of virtue were black and sin were white. Just as we unthinkingly—almost unconsciously—“know” a lemon is yellow, we instantly know that sin and crime are black and that grace and virtue are white.
Dirt and Sin
Why would this intrinsic association exist? One possibility is that the metaphor is more complex, embodying not just right and wrong but purity and contagion, too. Think of the metaphor “new-fallen snow.” It is not only white, it is also virginal and unadulterated, like a wedding dress. And blackness not only discolors it, it stains it, taints its purity. With this in mind, the psychologists ran another experiment, adding this dimension of contagion, of feeling morally “dirty.” They deliberately primed some volunteers’ immoral thoughts by having them read a story about a self-serving, immoral lawyer and then compared them with volunteers primed for ethical thinking.
The idea was that people who were feeling morally dirty would be quicker to make the connection between immorality and blackness on the moral Stroop test, which is exactly what the researchers found. And what’s more, they found the link using much looser definitions of morality and immorality—including words such as dieting, gossip, duty, partying, helping, and so forth. In other words, those primed for misbehavior linked blackness not only with crime and cheating but with being irresponsible, unreliable, self-centered slackers.
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21 Comments
Add CommentI really do wonder about the racist underpinnings in this. Why is white not associated with age or the bleaching of pigments, fungus growing on something, decay or fading etc? It doesn't seem reasonable that black is associated with filth except for culturally.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Cosmic at 10:22 AM on 11/09/09
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI really do wonder about the racist underpinnings in this. Why is white not associated with age or the bleaching of pigments, fungus growing on something, decay or fading etc? It doesn't seem reasonable that black is associated with filth except for culturally. "
especially this: "In other words, those primed for misbehavior linked blackness not only with crime and cheating but with being irresponsible, unreliable, self-centered slackers."
Experiment with arbitrary criteria and conditions = experimenter's [unconscious] biased conclusion
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe way I read this, this "test" does nothing to take environment into account. I grew up in a time where good guys wore black. Batman (Michael Keaton) was wearing black, the Chicago White Sox changed their uniform to black, and even had an ad campaign that read, "Good guys wear black". Also, it seems that every single hockey team started wearing black alternative uniforms, and the LA/Oakland Raiders were "good". Even the arguably most popular reincarnation of Superman during the whole "death" storyline wore black.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThus, for me, the association with white being good and black being bad are forever skewed. That association just isn't there, at all. I recognize that this is all environmental for me, and that there is no evidence of an intrinsic leaning toward viewing one as good or bad. As a matter of fact, because of environmental factors, sometimes I expect good to be a little bad.
I think, without a reputable counter-test on the same subjects to extract environmental responses this observation has very little merit. Furthermore, the article says nothing of cultural or regional factors. These would be of immense importance in evaluating the data.
Also, it does seem to have a hint of racism, or at least xenophobia attached to this article; particularly when the responses are personified and taken out of the realm of general morality.
This study is so flawed that it is laughable. The author should have done inital readings of linguistic theory. Why do Asians wear white to funerals? Why do Europeans talk about, "yellow belly cowards," and Asians talk about, "white belly cowards"?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever Hopalong Cassidy wore a black hat and dressed in all black.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Nothing is either good or bad, but THINKING MAKES IT SO!" (to quote William Shakespeare);
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisthis applies to the cultural associations of colour perception just as well.
thinking in black and white is typically human, whereas we share our trichromatic colour vision with the other primates, due to our evolutionary survival chances , which clearly depended on picking the ripest, i.e. most colourful fruits! (vide youthevity.com)
I think it is dangerous to use the metaphor white as new fallen snow and somehow connect it to the colors of human skin. White people are not white, black people are not black. Vanilla, chocolate, ivory, coffee and cream, we might be able to find racism in people who DO connect black-bad-sin with the chocolate color of their neighbors, or think of their own skin as lily-white-pure-good, but put their skin next to a white lily and the one drop rule cancels any illusion that white people are in fact "white". The fact that white people desire a tan (instinctive desire for vitamin D and bone health?) and spend billions on cosmetics to add a "drop of color" to their pasty white faces seems to make the connection to "race" anything but a black and white issue. Racial purity is not about color, the Germans viewed the other white "races" as inferior, and there are billions of people on this planet who find the American white, black, red, yellow color associations laughable at best.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhere can can I get a grant to do useless studys ,filled with half-truths,and inaccuracies,and get my pockets full of money,for doing what appears to be about an hours work,maybe less?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe more likely explanation involves evolutionary strategies. White in a natural or primitive environment is more likely to be associated with light and transparency, and thus relative safety. Black in nature comes with darkness and concealment, thus seen as more likely to serve some dangerous purpose. When we don't understand the source of our instincts, we make up all kinds of crap to justify our and others prejudices, or our professed lack thereof.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe the association is as clear as night and day.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNight is a time when homo sapiens' main survival sense (vision) is weakened or nullified. The competition from other animals with better senses of smell and hearing puts humans at a disadvantage.
Darkness = danger.
JOPW you had the same thought as me. americans wear black to a funeral and the japanese wear white. so whos the bad guy?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisReligion, long long time ago, started the black and white.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe have all heard it for years and years.
Light and Dark. Good and Evil. Sunlight and Shadows.
It just goes into other areas as time goes by.
I should also mention animals with better night vision.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIn darkness it's easy to find light. In a whiteout situation impurities in our vision appear as blobs or floaters. White desolation or black hole? More typically it is white crowd and black void. So where would I rather go?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAssociations with "black" and "white" are cultural. In one African tribe, with which I happen to be familiar, the word for "white" is close to the word for "evil". The study should have said these conclusions may be true for Western/North American culture.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is a cultural bias. In one African tribe, with which I'm familiar, the word for "white" is close to the word for "evil". I doubt they would have the same moral connotations with colors that we have. The study should clarify its conclusions relative to the test subjects--Western, North American morals. And even then, it's probably not universal but a mere tendency.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think reading race politics into something as old as evolution itself is a mistake.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think the researchers had "sneaking suspicions" they were trying to prove.
I believe the answer is in our species being more vulnerable at night.
Idiot liberals that are turning this into a racial issue should be flogged. Since human history has been recording, white has been associated with good and black with evil BEFORE white people, the Caucasoids, even knew Black people, Negroids, existed.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLiberals, get a life.
In regards to why Japanese wear white at funerals, this is because they are not morning but rejoicing at the fact their loved onces spirits are free from material and worldly desires and evils thus the white represents goodness.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis is the problem Negro black people are having in the world. Subconsciously it is programmed in our brains just like everyone else, that we are sinful and defiled. The Bible and all of Western/White literature promotes the nonsense that Sin signifies black. While Black people are addicted to the Religion which condemns our skin more than any other people in the world.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot until Negro/Blacks rid ourselves of all aspects of Christianity, will we have any chance of starting the process of healing that is critically needed to arrest Black On Black Crimes worldwide.
No other condition can exist for us on earth, as long as we adhere to a God who supposedly tells humans to get rid of sin in their lives and the world, while associating the color of our skin with sin. That is a no win situation for blacks. And the best tool for permanent control that slave masters could've ever devised, to keep blacks enslaved, way after emancipation was done.