- Turban effect
The "
turban effect" is a term coined in a paper to appear in theJournal of Experimental Social Psychology , whose lead author is Christian Unkelbach. [ [http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=cfe386b8-e1bd-4b0c-9eac-caf2739104d3 Study suggests "turban effect" as a source of Islamophobia ] ] The paper reports on a study in which Australian participants played a video game involving shooting armed characters and refraining from shooting unarmed characters. Researchers found that participants were more likely to shoot at individuals wearing turbans or hijabs than those withoutMuslim attire. Moreover, participants seemed unware that they had this procilivity.Interpretation
The authors contend their study provides evidence of
Islamophobia , and blame the media for negative portrayals of Muslims.An opinion piece in "
The Guardian " by Jonathan Birdwell considered the alternative explanation "that the 'turban effect' does not reveal a deep-seated (and recently revived) prejudice, but rather our instinctual disposition towardsinductive reasoning – that is, making predictions about the future on the basis of past experience. The fact remains that the attacks of 9/11, 7/7 and Madrid were committed by individuals in the name of Islam (albeit a perverted interpretation)." [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/08/religion.islam Jonathan Birdwell: Are one-sided media reports are making us all unconsciously Islamophobic? | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk ] ]Notes
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