We believe this article makes two primary contributions. First, we tested and supported some specific ideas put forward by Duster, namely that research reports and media stories about race, health, and genetics have grown over time and are now common; that these reports are presented in a neutral, non-ideological manner; that this neutral presentation circumvents our usual tendency to check incoming persuasive messages against our preexisting social attitudes; and that the public generalizes messages about specific, genetically based racial differences in health to broader, more fundamental or essential, genetic differences between racial groups.
