Racial prejudice among undergraduate students: implications for the use of FAST in the study of verbal learning

Abstract

This paper describes the use of the Function Acquisition Speed Test (FAST) to assess verbal learning histories with racial stimuli with 81 Brazilian undergraduate students based on skin color differences. Condition 1 compared stimuli using black and white women faces, whereas Condition 2 compared stimuli using women with either lighter or darker skin. Thus, the main purpose of this study was to verify if FAST is a useful experimental procedure for measuring verbal learning histories in issues involving racial stimuli with Brazilian undergraduate students. Experimental stimuli used were pictures of faces of women with darker or lighter skin color and words written with positive or negative meanings. The results indicated that 51 of the totals of 81 participants (63%), constituted by 28 out of 41 participants (68%) in Condition 1 and 23 of 40 participants (58%) in Condition 2, demonstrated faster rates of learning on the stereotype-consistent in comparison to the stereotype-inconsistent training blocks. This data moderately indicates that FAST seems to be sensitive to quantify relations between racial stimuli. The variables that may have influenced these results are discussed.