According to a recent study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, whites associate more negative connotations with the word “Black” than they do with the word “African American.” 

From Science Direct:

Racial labels often define how social groups are perceived. The current research utilized both archival and experimental methods to explore the consequences of the “Black” vs. “African-American” racial labels on Whites’ evaluations of racial minorities. We argue that the racial label Black evokes a mental representation of a person with lower socioeconomic status than the racial label African-American, and that Whites will react more negatively toward Blacks (vs. African-Americans).

Read more at Science Direct

In the first Study, authors show that the stereotype content for Blacks (vs. African-Americas) is lower in status, positivity, competence, and warmth. The second study reveals that whites view a target as lower status when he is identified as Black vs. African-American.

For the third study, researchers demonstrated that the use of the label Black vs. African-American in a US Newspaper crime report article yielded a negative emotional tone in that particular article. The fourth study shows that whites view a criminal suspect more negativity when he is identified as Black vs. African-American.

How can we combat the negative stereotypes associated with how we identify ourselves? Is it even our job to?

Sound off below!