Shot in the Dark

Low Expectations

Democrat politicians tend to talk down to black voters, according to Fox News Fox News Fox News!

Sorry.  I mean Yale:

The team found that Democratic candidates used fewer competence-related words in speeches delivered to mostly minority audiences than they did in speeches delivered to mostly white audiences. The difference wasn’t statistically significant in speeches by Republican candidates…There was no difference in Democrats’ or Republicans’ usage of words related to warmth [the mnemonic for “acceptance or friendliness toward people different than  you” – Ed]. “It was really surprising to see that for nearly three decades, Democratic presidential candidates have been engaging in this predicted behavior.”

Now, we’ve seen these social science polls with amusing (?) partisan results for decades – most of them garbage.  It’s important to know what the methodology that led to the study was:

They designed a series of experiments in which white participants were asked to respond to a hypothetical or presumed-real interaction partner. For half of these participants, their partner was given a stereotypically white name (such as “Emily”); for the other half, their partner was given a stereotypically black name (such as “Lakisha”). Participants were asked to select from a list of words for an email to their partner. For some studies, this email was for a work-related task; for others, this email was simply to introduce themselves. Each word had been previously scored on how warm or competent it appears. The word “sad,” for example, scored low for both warmth and competence. “Melancholy,” on the other hand, scored high for competence and low on warmth.

Participant also completed a variety of measures that assessed how liberal they were.

The researchers found that liberal individuals were less likely to use words that would make them appear highly competent when the person they were addressing was presumed to be black rather than white. No significant differences were seen in the word selection of conservatives based on the presumed race of their partner. “It was kind of an unpleasant surprise to see this subtle but persistent effect,” Dupree says. “Even if it’s ultimately well-intentioned, it could be seen as patronizing.”

Unpleasant surprise.  “Unexpected”, even.

 

 

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Mitch Berg

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8 responses to “Low Expectations”

  1. jdm Avatar
    jdm

    Doesn’t seem to bother blacks, tho’. Apparently. They vote for Democrats like clockwork.

  2. Prince of Darkness_666 Avatar
    Prince of Darkness_666

    “Even if it’s ultimately well-intentioned, it could be seen as patronizing.”

    The road to hell… The fact the leftstill cares so much about race just proves how racist they are.

  3. golfdoc50 Avatar
    golfdoc50

    “The soft bigotry of low expectations.” George W Bush phrase that describes progressive behavior so often that James Taranto made it into a recurring category when he was writing Best of the Web for the WSJ.

  4. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    “The team found that Democratic candidates used fewer competence-related words in speeches delivered to mostly minority audiences …”

    So, what you’re really saying is the reprobates speak to their constituents effectively. What’s the problem?

    Give it up Mitch. You’re trying to play the leftists game, and it doesn’t work. If the reprobates are getting their message through to low IQ audiences effectively, the correct response is to do it better, not hit the Victorian vapor couch.

  5. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    jdm gets it.

  6. Prince of Darkness_666 Avatar
    Prince of Darkness_666

    Again Swiftee I think (assuming there’s no… ill just say unfortunate incident for fear of being called by the FBI) I really believe that Trump could get 25% of the black vote in this country just soley based on the economy and job oppertunities they had. The black community is so disillusioned with the Democrats under Obama especially with how worse their lives got under him. Watch some #walkaway videos. They are stunning because people are waking up, big time.

  7. Swiftee Pinochet Avatar
    Swiftee Pinochet

    You’re right, POD. At least 25% of black Americans have reached the upper middle class, and many of them are leaning right.

    Unfortunately, too many upper middle class black Americans got to the upper middle class working government jobs, or securing an EEOC position in academia; they ain’t in no ways tarred of the Democrat party.

    Further, 50% of the remaining black population is openly scornful of their more successful ilk, and see refuting them and their success as a badge of honor.

    The last 25% are too busy hooking up and shooting one another to give a damn about anything else.

    We’ve got to find a way to convince them government Takis & beer is poisioning them.

  8. Prince of Darkness_666 Avatar
    Prince of Darkness_666

    As Dennis Prager has so often said, “An addiction to government ‘benefits’ is a harder addiction to break than a heroin addiction.” I believe that 100%.

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