The Backdoor Vignette’s influence on belief in essential racial differences did not vary significantly by participants’ level of explicit or implicit racial bias. This result is contrary to what we would expect if participants’ responses to the vignette were being filtered and modulated by their preexisting racial attitudes. However, it is entirely consistent with the idea that messages like those embodied in the Backdoor Vignette affect beliefs about racial difference in part because their noncontroversial presentation does not call up prior social or racial attitudes. This shows that the process is not limited to people who are highly racially biased but has a much broader impact.
