Exploring implicit anti-Arab prejudice and sociopolitical correlates through a minimal paradigm.

The present paper contains three studies exploring whether political icons with known ideologies (i.e., Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump) alter implicit prejudicial attitudes toward Arab and Chinese cultural groups. Using a modified affect misattribution procedure, the studies suggest anti-Arab attitudes are detectable in speeded ratings of Arabic symbols, relative to Chinese symbols (Studies 1–2) and control symbols (Study 3). Sociopolitically relevant variables (e.g., social dominance orientation, right wing authoritarianism, explicit anti-Arab prejudice, generalized prejudice) predict negative ratings of Arabic symbols. Moreover, these variables predict positive and negative responses following a Trump and Sanders image, respectively. Brief exposure to political icons did not alter the negative ratings of Arabic symbols.