Covered in stigma? The impact of differing levels of Islamic head-covering on explicit and implicit biases toward Muslim women

Journal article

Given the prominence of Muslim veils-in particular the hijab and full-face veil-in public discourse concerning the place of Muslims in Western society, we examined their impact on non-Muslims' responses at both explicit and implicit levels. Results revealed that responses were more negative toward any veil compared with no veil, and more negative toward the full-face veil relative to the hijab: for emotions felt toward veiled women (Study 1), for non-affective attitudinal responses (Study 2), and for implicit negative attitudes revealed through response latency measures (Studies 3a and 3b). Finally, we manipulated the perceived reasons for wearing a veil, finding that exposure to positive reasons for wearing a veil led to better predicted and imagined contact (Study 4). Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Authors: Schellhaas, F; Earp, B; Ando, V; Memarzia, J; Parise, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
• Journal: Journal of Applied Social Psychology
• Publication date: 2014-01-01
• DOI: 10.1111/jasp.12278
• EISSN: 1559-1816
• ISSN: 0021-9029
• Language: English