Sara Greenlee

Trust/Efficacy/Prejudice Quiz

            The required article that I chose to examine was, "Public support for Hispanic deportation in the United States: the effects of ethnic prejudice and perceptions of economic competition in a period of economic distress," by authors Arthur Cosby, Kristen Aanstoos, Marissa Matta, Jeremy Porter and Wesley James. This particular article examines how ethnic prejudices and perceptions affects people's opinions on Hispanic deportation of illegal immigrants, specifically in the United States. This study, the SCSH, was conducted via cell phone calls, with interviewers asking the sample of 1,510, questions of their attitudes and policy preferences of Hispanic immigration. It was of February and March of 2009 that this survey was conducted.  The study took into account the participants ages, sex, race, education, employment, and political parties. The authors of this study focused on policy concerns, such as asking the participants whether they believe that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay permanently upon arrival in the United States, or be given a temporary work visa.  Of the participants' races, more Hispanics said that they would've given illegal immigrants allowance to stay permanently. For Blacks, more Blacks said that they would grant illegal immigrants temporary residence as a result of a work visa. For education, the participants that have higher education levels favored giving illegal immigrants temporary work visas. As for participants' political parties, and how that shaped their view on illegal immigration, there were more Democrats that said they would allow illegal immigrants permanent residence, versus Independents who said they would give illegal immigrants temporary living status in the United State via a work visa.  The second article I chose to examine was, "The Blacker the Berry: Gender, Skin Tone, Self-Esteem, and Self-Efficacy," by authors Maxine S. Thompson and Verna M. Keith.

            "The Blacker the Berry: Gender, Skin Tone, Self-Esteem, and Self-Efficacy," evaluates how skin color affects women's perceptions of themselves, thus people's self-esteem, and overall, the implications that people face just because their skin is a certain color. The National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA) was responsible for the data of this study. The study was only open to interviewing Black Americans in the United States, being of at least 18 years of age or older. The two dependent variables in this study were self-efficacy and self-esteem. As part of the study to examine participants' self-esteem and self-efficacy, participants were asked about their feelings of self-worth and their personal efficacy. The independent variables of this study were primarily skin tone, but also, the participants social class, education, and how their body images. As for the results of this study, the authors found that the lighter your skin tone is, the more self-efficacy you have, with darker skinned men having worse levels of self-efficacy than dark skinned women. Where participants live, and their education levels, this improved, both men and women's self-efficacy, more for men however. For Black Americans' views on their bodies, it was found that light skinned people are more attractive, but if Blacks are successful, their self-esteem rose.