Op-Ed: Asians are stereotyped as ‘competent but cold.’ Here’s how that increases backlash from the coronavirus pandemic

By Yuhua Wang |

The covid-19 virus originated in China, and many blame the Chinese for bringing the virus to the rest of the world. Because it is difficult for many non-Asian people to distinguish among different Asian subgroups, all Asians are treated as culprits...

Even people harboring racist views know that it is not polite to express anti-Asian sentiment openly. People typically monitor their language and behavior because of social pressures — a phenomenon that social scientists call “social desirability pressure"...

But social pressures can change. President Trump’s racial rhetoric has emboldened many Americans to more openly express and act on their prejudices — a phenomenon that some have labeled the “Trump effect.” Benjamin Newman, Jennifer Merolla, Sono Shah, Danielle Casarez Lemi, Loren Collingwood and S. Karthick Ramakrishnan recently reported here at TMC that their research finds Trump’s rhetoric does encourage open prejudice and bias — and when other politicians don’t object, it amplifies that “Trump effect” — and increases the likelihood they will discriminate based on those biases.

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