Turban effect
Encyclopedia
The turban effect is a term coined in a paper published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
, whose lead author is Christian Unkelbach. The paper reports on a study in which Australian participants played a video game involving shooting armed characters and refraining from shooting unarmed characters under time pressure. Researchers found that participants were more likely to shoot at individuals wearing turban
s or hijab
s than those without Muslim
attire. Moreover, participants seemed unaware that they had this proclivity.
, 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 towards inductive reasoning
– that is, making predictions about the future on the basis of past experience."
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology is a scientific journal covering Psychology published by Elsevier, and is distributed as part of dues to the membership of the Society of Experimental Social Psychology...
, whose lead author is Christian Unkelbach. The paper reports on a study in which Australian participants played a video game involving shooting armed characters and refraining from shooting unarmed characters under time pressure. Researchers found that participants were more likely to shoot at individuals wearing turban
Turban
In English, Turban refers to several types of headwear popularly worn in the Middle East, North Africa, Punjab, Jamaica and Southwest Asia. A commonly used synonym is Pagri, the Indian word for turban.-Styles:...
s or hijab
Hijab
The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....
s than those without Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
attire. Moreover, participants seemed unaware that they had this proclivity.
Interpretation
The authors contend their study provides evidence of IslamophobiaIslamophobia
Islamophobia describes prejudice against, hatred or irrational fear of Islam or MuslimsThe term dates back to the late 1980s or early 1990s, but came into common usage after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States....
, and blame the media for negative portrayals of Muslims.
An opinion piece in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
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 towards inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning, also known as induction or inductive logic, is a kind of reasoning that constructs or evaluates propositions that are abstractions of observations. It is commonly construed as a form of reasoning that makes generalizations based on individual instances...
– that is, making predictions about the future on the basis of past experience."