Unconscious linguistic referents to race: analysis and methodological frameworks

Abstract

Recent years have seen considerable development in methodological designs for accessing and eliciting unconscious cognitive schemata in response to social stimuli, including race. One design is experimental and involves the priming and automatic activation of schemata. Another design is a specifically developed psycho-linguistic and logico-mathematic method for recognizing, analyzing, and validating unconsciously expressed meaning in verbal narratives, referred to as sub-literal (SubLit). Unconscious references to race found in verbal discourse from both laboratory and everyday settings, including the mass media, are illustrated and analyzed utilizing these two complementary methodological designs. Along with suggested procedures, an initial classification scheme for attributions of racial stereotypes and prejudice are presented. Given the historical and current state of race relations both nationally and globally, the paper has significant social implications.