socially acceptable than the Race-as-Genetic-Reality Vignette. Participants did not identify any similarities in the underlying messages of the Backdoor and Race-as-Social-Construction Vignettes that would cause them to view the Backdoor Vignette as biased, even though the two vignettes produced virtually identical levels of belief in essential racial differences. This pattern of findings is consistent with Duster’s argument that backdoor articles, because of their objective and nonideological presentation, are not viewed as related to racial attitudes and not evaluated on that basis, but they nevertheless affect beliefs about racial differences in a manner similar to messages that are not considered socially acceptable.
