America may have a Black president, but the country's racial inequalities, in relation to education, health, incarceration, and wealth, remain rife. In two new studies, psychologists have documented effects that suggest the election of President Obama could, ironically, exacerbate this racial inequality rather than help eradicate it.
Daniel Effron and colleagues presented dozens of predominantly White undergrad students with one of two scenarios that would reveal their favouritism towards White people: one was a hiring decision, the other related to the allocation of funds to communities. Crucially, the students were asked to make their choices about the hiring or funding either before or after they had declared whether they planned to vote for Barack Obama, in what was then the upcoming Presidential election.
Students who declared their intention to vote for Obama before making the hiring/funding decisions subsequently showed more favouritism towards White people than did students who made their decisions first. A third study showed this effect was particularly apparent among more racially prejudiced students.
"Our findings raise the possibility that the opportunity to vote for an African-American for President could have reduced some voters' concerns about appearing prejudiced, thereby ironically increasing the likelihood that they would favour Whites in subsequent decisions," the researchers said.
In a separate study,
Cheryl Kaiser and colleagues compared the support of dozens of predominantly White undergrad students for anti-racist social policies ten days prior to, and one week after, the election of President Obama. They found that support for anti-racist social policies - for example, encouraging diversity in business - was lower after Obama's election compared with before. The students also stated that America had made more progress towards racial progress, and they expressed more support for meritocracy, when asked after Obama's election compared with when they were asked before.
"Barack Obama's presidential victory may have ironic and unintended consequences for remedying racial injustice in the United States," Kaiser's team said. "Specifically, construing President Barack Obama's victory as an achievement in race relations may hinder efforts to eliminate the racial disparities that continue to plague and divide the United States."
_______________________________
Kaiser, C., Drury, B., Spalding, K., Cheryan, S., & O’Brien, L. (2009). The ironic consequences of Obama’s election: Decreased support for social justice. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45 (3), 556-559 DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.01.006
Effron, D., Cameron, J., & Monin, B. (2009). Endorsing Obama licenses favoring Whites. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45 (3), 590-593 DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2009.02.001 
译文:
奥巴马如何破坏种族平等？
美国可以选一位黑人总统，但其本身存在的民族歧视，以及相关的教育，卫生，收监以及财富分配等不公平现象仍很普遍。心理学家在两项最新的研究中有材料证明：奥巴马当选美国总统不仅不能缓解种族歧视反而可能使其恶化，真是极具有讽刺意义。
Daniel Effron及其同事让一大批白人大学生选择回答这么两个假设提问以判断他们对白人的偏好: 一个问题是有关聘用决定权的，另一个是有关社区资金分配的。问题的关键在于在总统选举结果出来之前，让他们回答是否会选巴拉克.奥巴马以及如何做聘用决定或资金分配的选择。
那些在做聘用或投资决定前就有选奥巴马意向的学生比那些先做决定的学生对白人表现出更强列的偏好。另一项研究表明受种族歧视的学生这种表现更加明显。
“我们的研究表明人们选一名美国黑人做总统，目的在于削弱自身被歧视的心理。他们更偏好选白人” 研究者说。
Cheryl Kaiser及其同事在另一项研究中对奥巴马总统当选十天前以及当选十天后一些白人大学生对反种族主义政策的支持情况进行了对比。他们发现在奥巴马当选后人们对反种族政策如鼓励产业多样化等的支持率较之以前有所下降。这些学生还说在奥巴马当选以后美国在民族主义上取得了更显著的成绩，同时他们对于这位精英表示了更大的支持。
“巴拉克.奥巴马参选总统并取得胜利对于美国消除种族主义歧视似乎可以产生讽刺和意外的效果。” Kaiser 团队如是说。“具体来说，如果把巴拉克.奥巴马总统的当选看作是种族关系的一种进步，这将会真正影响种族歧视的消除，从而进一步对美国进行破坏和分化