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Open AccessOriginal Article

Intersected Groups and Discriminatory Everyday Behavior

Evidence From a Lost Email Experiment

Published Online:January 10, 2022https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-9335/a000464

Abstract

Abstract. De-racialization research suggests that depicting members of ethnic minority groups as gay leads to less stereotypic perceptions of their ethnic group. However, whether the consequences of de-racialization translate into real-world behavior is unclear. In a large “lost letter” field experiment (N = 6,654) where an email was ostensibly sent to the wrong recipient by mistake, we investigate whether the relative impact of signaling gayness (vs. heterosexuality) differs for Arab (minority) versus Swedish (majority) senders. The results show clear evidence of ethnic discrimination where Arab (minority) senders receive fewer replies (prosocial response) than Swedish (majority) senders. However, there is no evidence indicating that Arab senders would receive a lower penalty for revealing gayness. Implications for multiple categorization research are discussed.

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