Linguistic Masking Devices and Intergroup Behavior

Abstract

This research extends growing work on the interplay between language and social cognition by examining the use of linguistic masking devices in an intergroup context. The authors conducted three studies to explore the use offour lower-level masking devices identified as influential in creating differing versions of reality. In Study 1, African American and Caucasian students read one news brief involving an encounter between Caucasian police officers and African American males and then were asked to generate headlines describing the event. These headlines were content analyzed according to permutation, truncation, generalization, and nominalization. Results were inconclusive, and a follow-up study (Study 2) examined the differential use of these masking devices in headlines written by Caucasian police officers and African American respondents. A final study was conducted (Study 3) to rule out the possibility that the differential use of linguistic masking devices was due to factors other than intergroup bias.