The US has a history of problems involving police repression against young black people, this fact encouraged many researches and experiments to understand why this behavior is present in all American states.
In 2017, the American Psychological Association released a study that analyzed several independent research on how black men are perceived by white people (J. P. Wilson et al, 2017).
The experiment
In the study, participants were asked to examine images of black men and white men, and were asked to guess what their weight and height were, in addition to rating their strength level, threat level, and ability to cause harm. Many of these images featured black men and white men who were the same height, muscle mass, body type and weight.
The result
The result showed that even comparing the images of men with the same height, weight and physical capacity, the images of black men received higher ratings in all requirements. And in all 7 studies analyzed, the results were the same (J. P. Wilson et al, 2017).
Why are black people seen as stronger?
The result indicates that the difference in perception between white and black men goes beyond the social and economic factors related to black men over the centuries. The evidence points to genetic mechanisms that seek to identify a threat and avoid confrontation.
An indication of this genetic mechanism was a study conducted in Mississip, which found that women perceive black men as being more masculine than white and Asian men (E. V. Stepanova et al, 2018).
Testosterone is directly related to male characteristics in addition to aggressive and dominant behavior (G.N. Nassar et al, 2022), and studies confirm that black men have higher testosterone levels than white men (Ross, R. et al 1986).
Comparing the studies above, it is evident that during the evolutionary process, human ancestors learned to associate darker skin with a sign of individuals with higher levels of testosterone, and therefore stronger and more dominant. For primates that live in a society with a hierarchy based on strength, it is essential to know how to judge the physical capacity of the members of the group.
The hypothesis is that for females, darker skin would be indicative of a stronger, dominant male with good genetics for the offspring. For the other males in the group, darker skin could be a sign of a stronger and more aggressive individual, which they should be afraid of and avoid confrontation in the dispute for a place in the hierarchy.
Therefore, evidence points out that genetically, white people have a natural tendency to recognize black men as stronger and more physically capable.
Sources:
(J. P. Wilson et al, 2017) Racial Bias in Judgments of Physical Size and Formidability.
https://supp.apa.org/psycarticles/supplemental/pspi0000092/pspi0000092_supp.html
American Psychological Association.
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/03/black-men-threatening
(E. V. Stepanova et al, 2018) Attractiveness as a Function of Skin Tone and Facial Features: Evidence from Categorization Studies.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29182445/
(G. N. Nassar et al, 2022) Testosterone role in male development.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526128/
(Ross, R. et al 1986) Serum Testosterone Levels in Healthy Young
Black and White Men.
https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-abstract/76/1/45/1006122
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