Skin Deep: Measuring Romantic Attraction and its Interaction with Race

Abstract

To date, literature on romantic attraction has uncovered generalized racial preferences in dating, with Whites most often preferred. On the other hand, Black women and East Asian men are disadvantaged in the dating market. The present study examines these racial preferences in contemporary dating and low-level attraction (immediate, physical appeal). White, Black, Latinx, East Asian, and South Asian participants rated racially diverse photos. Participants were primed to think either of their dating preferences or of their low-level attraction while rating the photos. Additionally, to improve validity and to explore the effects of scale-type, photos were rated using two different scales. The scale was either dichotomous, designed to prompt fast, spontaneous System 1 cognition, or 6-point Likert, designed to prompt slower, deliberate System 2 cognition. Participants did not respond differently whether the question asked about attraction or dating. Participants did engage with Likert scales differently than with dichotomous scales, a finding that merits future attention to the effect of scale type on attraction-related cognition. Men of all races showed a bias against Black women and, speculatively, a preference for East Asian women. Women generally preferred their racial ingroup when using a dichotomous scale. With a Likert scale, ingroup preference was partially replaced by a White preference.