What other research has been done on hair & bias?
A 2016 study by Rudman and McLean looked at black men and women’s explicit reactions to photos of celebrities (famous black women such as Janet Jackson, Viola Davis, Melissa Tyler Perry, Solange Knowles) with natural and treated hairstyles. The study found that overall, participants preferred treated hair, but the black women expressed no preference.
A 2016 study by health researchers found that black adolescent girls (ages 14-17) may avoid exercise due to concerns about sweat affecting their hair.
Relevant research articles
Caldwell, P. M. (1991). A hair piece: Perspectives on the intersection of race and gender. Duke Law Journal, 1991(2), 365-396. http://its.law.nyu.edu/faculty/profiles/representiveFiles/caldwell%20-hairpiece_FAED503C-1B21-6206-60CF2A0849028E3F.pdf
Patton T. Hey Girl, Am I more than My Hair?: African American women and their struggles with beauty, body image, and hair. NWSA. 2006;18(2):24–51. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/199496/summary
Robinson, C. L. (2011). Hair as Race: Why “Good Hair” May Be Bad for Black Females. Howard Journal of Communications, 22(4), 358–376. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2011.617212
Rudman, L. A., & McLean, M. C. (2016). The role of appearance stigma in implicit racial ingroup bias. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 19(3), 374-393. http://gpi.sagepub.com/content/19/3/374.short
Woolford, S. J., Woolford-Hunt, C. J., Sami, A., Blake, N., & Williams, D. R. (2016). No sweat: African American adolescent girls’ opinions of hairstyle choices and physical activity. BMC Obesity, 3(1), 31-38. https://bmcobes.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40608-016-0111-7
“We hope to encourage researchers to use intersectional approach to design new metrics, such as the Hair IAT, to drive new and nuanced conversations.”
– Alexis McGill Johnson, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Perception Institute