Prejudice Versus Discrimination in the Employment Interview: We may Hire Equally, but Our Memories Harbour Prejudice

Abstract

The effects of applicant race and applicant quality on recall errors and on decision making in the employment interview were examined. Eighty-eight white undergraduates in the mid-Western United States reviewed paper credentials and then interviewed a high or low quality black or white applicant in a controlled experimental setting. Results showed that, although the interviewers hired the black and white applicants in equal proportion, one week later they recalled the answers to the interview questions given by the black applicants as having been significantly less intelligent then those of whites - when in fact the actual interview content in the two race conditions was identical. Presumably, the participants of this study had negative schemas towards blacks that they were able to suppress when making hiring decisions, but that were revealed when unobtrusive measures were used.