All 2,409 participants were randomly assigned to one of two survey experiments; the 559 participants whose responses we analyze here took part in the race-and-genetics experiment and were randomly assigned to one of four vignette conditions. The other 1,850 participants took part in a different experiment not described here. The vignettes were based on articles identified in the content analysis and were constructed to make them similar in length, to standardize the prestige of sources referred to in the articles (e.g., academic affiliation of scientists cited), and to lower the reading level required to comprehend the articles. Assignment to vignette condition was random, but the probability of being assigned to the no-vignette control was intentionally set at a lower level (.16) than the three vignettes (.28 for each). Immediately preceding the vignette, participants were instructed: “Please read the following news article.” Vignettes were presented in the form of a two-column newspaper article (see the Appendix).
