The Bogus Pipeline and Stereotypes Toward Blacks

Summary

Two bogus pipeline conditions and a control condition were employed to assess the stereotypes toward blacks held by 120 white male and female college students. One of the bogus pipeline conditions employed standard instructions, while the second included additional instructions designed to minimize possible social undesirability biases. Univariate analyses of 22 trait ascriptions revealed only three effects of bogus pipeline measurement and failed to replicate the results obtained by Sigall and Page. Factor analyses of these ratings revealed three predominant stereotypes that are consistent with past studies: a “1930s” view of blacks as ignorant and dirty, a “Sambo” stereotype of blacks as musical and happy-go-lucky, and a “modish” stereotype of blacks as honest and intelligent. Unlike the Sigall and Page findings, no effects of the bogus pipeline were obtained on the first factor, but effects of the pipeline were obtained on the second factor. The results suggest that the bogus pipeline may minimize social desirability bias, and that a social undesirability bias does not seem to be substituted.