Between Political Tones: Investigating the Impact of Political Orientation on Racial Perception
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/Keywords:
political psychology, social perception, social identity, racial groupsAbstract
Political polarization is a growing phenomenon that intensifies social divisions, potentially influencing how individuals perceive and categorize others. This study aimed to investigate the impact of information about an individual’s political orientation on the racialized social group categorization attributed to them. The hypothesis tested was that political statements (left vs. right) could alter racial perceptions of mixed-race candidates. In Study 1, 576 participants evaluated a male photo, and in Study 2, 400 evaluated a female photo. Participants were exposed to political scenarios and answered questions about political position, racialized categorization, and political identification. The results indicated that mixed-race candidates with left-wing statements are perceived as Blacker. Gender (Study 1) and age (Study 2) influenced this categorization. It is concluded that political orientation impacts racial categorization and warrants further investigation, especially regarding these interactions.
Downloads
References
Brown, R. (2020), The social identity approach: Appraising the Tajfellian legacy. Br. J. Soc. Psychol., 59: 5-25. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12349
» https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12349
Chen, J. M. (2019). An integrative review of impression formation processes for multiracial individuals. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(1), e12430. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12430
» https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12430
Chen, J. M., Paula Couto, M. C. P., Sacco, A. M., & Dunham, Y. (2018). To be or not to be (black or multiracial or white): Cultural variation in racial boundaries. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9(7), 763–772. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617725149
» https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617725149
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A. G. (2009). Statistical power analyses using G* Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
» https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
Franco, A. B., & Pound, N. (2022). The foundations of Bolsonaro’s support: Exploring the psychological underpinnings of political polarization in Brazil. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 32(5), 846–859. https://doi.org/10.1002/CASP.2599
» https://doi.org/10.1002/CASP.2599
Fuks, M., & Marques, P. H. (2022). Polarização e contexto: Medindo e explicando a polarização política no Brasil [Polarization and context: Measuring and explaining political polarization in Brazil]. Opinião Pública, 28(3), 560–593. https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-01912022283560
» https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-01912022283560
Fulton, S. A., & Gershon, S. A. (2018). Too liberal to win? Race and voter perceptions of candidate ideology. American Politics Research, 46(5), 909–939. ( https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X18759642 )
» https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673X18759642
Gaither, S. E., Chen, J. M., Pauker, K., & Sommers, S. R. (2018). At face value: Psychological outcomes differ for real vs. computer-generated multiracial faces. The Journal of Social Psychology, 159(5), 592–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2018.1538929
» https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2018.1538929
Guimarães, A. S. A. (2001). A questão racial na política brasileira (os últimos quinze anos) [The issue of race in Brazilian politics (the last fifteen years)]. Tempo Social, 13(2), 121–142. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-20702001000200007
» https://doi.org/10.1590/S0103-20702001000200007
Hogg, M. A. (2006). Social identity theory. In P. J. Burke (Ed.), Contemporary social psychological theories (pp. 111–136). Stanford Social Sciences.
Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. (2023). Pesquisa nacional por amostra de domicílios contínua 2012-2022 [Continuous national household sample survey 2012-2022]. https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/index.php/biblioteca-catalogo?view=detalhes&id=2102004
» https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/index.php/biblioteca-catalogo?view=detalhes&id=2102004
Jacobsmeier, M. L. (2015). From black and white to left and right: Race, perceptions of candidates’ ideologies, and voting behavior in U.S. house elections. Political Behavior, 37(3), 595–621. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-014-9283-3
» https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-014-9283-3
Jones, P. E., & Brewer, P. R. (2019). Gender identity as a political cue: Voter responses to transgender candidates. The Journal of Politics, 81(2), 697–701. https://doi.org/10.1086/701835
» https://doi.org/10.1086/701835
MacLin, O. H., & Malpass, R. S. (2001). Racial categorization of faces: The ambiguous race face effect. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 7(1), 98–118. https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8971.7.1.98
» https://doi.org/10.1037/1076-8971.7.1.98
Mason, L., & Wronski, J. (2018). One tribe to bind them all: How our social group attachments strengthen partisanship. Political Psychology, 39, 257–277. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12485
» https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12485
Mason, L. (2023). Political identities. In L. Huddy et al. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of political psychology (3rd ed.). Oxford Academic. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197541302.013.23
McCoy, J. (2024). Latin America’s Polarization in Comparative Perspective. Latin American Politics and Society, 66(2), 161–178. doi:10.1017/lap.2024.17
» https://doi.org/10.1017/lap.2024.17
Modesto, J. G., Zacarias, D. O., Galli, L. M., & Neiva, B. A. (2020). COVID-19 and attitudes toward social isolation: The role of political orientation, morality, and fake news. Estudos de Psicologia (Natal), 25(2), 124–132. https://pepsic.bvsalud.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-294X2020000200003
» https://pepsic.bvsalud.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-294X2020000200003
Muthukrishna, M., Bell, A. V., Henrich, J., Curtin, C. M., Gedranovich, A., McInerney, J., & Thue, B. (2020). Beyond western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) psychology: Measuring and mapping scales of cultural and psychological distance. Psychological Science, 31(6), 678–701. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620916782
» https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620916782
Oakes, P. (2002). Psychological groups and political psychology: A response to Huddy’s “Critical Examination of Social Identity Theory”. Political Psychology, 23(4), 809–824. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00308
» https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00308
Oliveira, A. N. C. (2021). E em seu nome será exercido: Representação descritiva e desigualdade política de gênero e raça no Brasil [And in your name it will be exercised: Descriptive representation and political inequality of gender and race in Brazil]. Civitas: revista de Ciências Sociais, 21(3), 489–500. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-7289.2021.3.39559
» https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-7289.2021.3.39559
Pauker, K., Meyers, C., Sanchez, D. T., Gaither, S. E., & Young, D. M. (2018). A review of multiracial malleability: Identity, categorization, and shifting racial attitudes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 12(6), e12392. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12392
» https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12392
Petruccelli, J. L., Saboia, A. L. (Orgs.). (2013). Características étnico-raciais da população: Classificações e identidades [Ethno-racial characteristics of the population: Classifications and identities]. Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística. https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/index.php/biblioteca-catalogo?view=detalhes&id=284235
» https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/index.php/biblioteca-catalogo?view=detalhes&id=284235
Rodrigues, C., & Pereira, M. M. (2022). Disputando o partido, enfrentando opositores: Efeitos políticos dos movimentos negro e LGBT+ nos governos Lula e Dilma (2003-2014) [Contesting the party, confronting opponents: Political effects of the Black and LGBT+ movements during the Lula and Dilma administrations (2003-2014)]. Opinião Pública, 28(3), 635–677. https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-01912022283635
» https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-01912022283635
Silva, G. M., & Leão, L. T. S. (2012). O paradoxo da mistura: Identidades, desigualdades e percepção de discriminação entre brasileiros pardos [The paradox of mixture: Identities, inequalities, and perceptions of discrimination among brown Brazilians]. Revista Brasileira de Ciências Sociais, 27(80), 117–133. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-69092012000300007
» https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-69092012000300007
Sousa, R. S., Oliveira, P., Filho, Araújo, J. B., & Vieira, D. V. M. (2022). A identidade da direita em narrativas de seus militantes numa universidade brasileira [The identity of the right-wing in narratives of its militants in a Brazilian university]. Psicologia: Ciência e Profissão, 42, e230399. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-3703003e230399
» https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-3703003e230399
Tribunal Superior Eleitoral. (2019). Portal de dados abertos do TSE [TSE open data portal]. https://dadosabertos.tse.jus.br/group/candidatos
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Paidéia (Ribeirão Preto)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Regarding the availability of contents, Paideia adopts the Creative Commons License, CC-BY. With this licence anyone is allowed to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as to remix, transform, and create from the material for any purpose, even commercial, giving the proper copyright credits to the journal, providing a link to the licence and indicating if changes have been made.
Partial reproduction of other publications
Quotations of more than 500 words, reproductions of one or more figures, tables or other illustrations must have written permission from the copyright holder of the original work for the reproduction specified in the Paidéia journal. Permission should be addressed to the author of the submitted manuscript. Secondarily obtained rights will not be transferred under any circumstance.
