Despite that fact, when participants were asked to reconstruct the man's face on a computer,they gave the man more stereotypically African features, such as darker skin tones, if he had been portrayed negatively as the white collar criminal, or―especially―as the violent criminal.The fact that they didn't associate more African features with the athlete, who was portrayed positively,suggests the participants linked these features to negativity rather than stereotypes.And this happened regardless of the participants'self-reported racial attitudes, which means that they weren't even aware they were having these troubling responses.If so, then it's not enough to study the way the media portray racial groups.It's also important to study how the public interprets and remembers―or misremembers―the news in a way that sustains racism.
