1. The Effects of Skin Tone Bias
on Perceptions Concerning
The Beauty of African
American Women
Olivia Carter
Dr. Eric Littman
Xavier University

2. Background
 In the African American culture, differences in skin tone have been
commonly known to cause a division within the race
 Skin tone is the avenue by which the race holds a prejudice amongst
one another as well as receive such from other races
 The most common prejudice is that African Americans with a lighter
skin tone are viewed in a more positive light than those of a darker
skin tone
 Stereotypes of lighter skin toned African Americans: more
attractive, affluent, pleasant personality, proper speech, etc.
 Stereotypes of darker skin toned African Americans:
ugly, aggressive, less intelligent, angry, threatening, etc.
 This prejudice dates way back to slavery when the lighter skin toned
slaves were able to work in the house while the darker skin tone
slaves got to work in the field
 This was also a huge issue during the 1950’s

3. Background
 In 1995 Robinson & Ward hypothesized that African
American teenage women would show a greater
preference for lighter toned African American women
than teenage men would.
 Robinson & Ward found that their hypothesis was not
supported. According to the results, men showed a
higher preference for lighter skin tone than women.

4. Background
 In 2006, Rosenberg and Snider took it a step further and
studied the effects of hair texture in addition to the
effects of skin tone bias amongst African Americans and
their perceptions of beauty.
 Rosenberg & Snider found that participants viewed
African Americans with a silkier hair texture as more
attractive than those with other hair textures. They
found that the African American participants who had
experienced some type of skin tone prejudice by other
African Americans disliked their skin tone and this
effected their self esteem levels.
 Additionally, men and women believed that these two
features (hair and skin tone) play a role in who they
decide to date.

5. My Study
 In the current study, the effects of skin will be measured
against perceptions of beauty as it pertains to African
American women
 I hypothesize that a lighter skin tone will be viewed as
more attractive to participants regardless of race than
that of the darker skin tone.
 In doing this I hope to get the current view on the
African American skin tone bias and observe whether or
not the issue is as prevalent as it has been in previous
history.
 I would also like to observe whether this is just a
cultural problem or if it is a problem within our society
as a whole.

6. Method
 24 Participants (14 female; 10 male) had 30s to view
each of 8 images
 4 Light skin photos
 4 dark skin photos
 After viewing each image, participants completed the
McCroskey & McCain (1974) Interpersonal Attraction
questionnaire on that image
 This was repeated until all eight images were shown

7. Sample Questionnaire
Interpersonal Attraction Scale
Instructions: Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the following statements as they
apply to _________________________________
Use the following scale and write one number before each statement to indicate your feelings.
7 = Strongly agree; 6 = Moderately agree; 5 = Slightly agree; 4 = Undecided; 3 = Slightly disagree;
2 = Moderately disagree; 1 = Strongly disagree
It would be difficult to meet and talk with him (her).
He (she) is somewhat ugly.
I think he (she) could be a friend of mine.
I would like to have a friendly chat with him (her).
I think he (she) is quite handsome (pretty).
I find him (her) very attractive physically.
I don't like the way he (she) looks.
He (she) is very sexy looking.
*Copyright 1974 by the Speech Communication Association. Reprinted by permission.

8. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Sample
Images

9. Results
 A within-subjects t-test comparing the effects of skin tone on perceived
attractiveness revealed no significant difference, t(24) = -.089, p > .05.
 These results indicated that there was not a significant difference in the
perceived beauty of the light skin African American women (M = 40.39, SE
= 1.09) and the dark skinned African American women (M = 39.34, SE =
1.15). These results are depicted in Figure 1.
Figure 1

10. Results (Cont.)
 Furthermore although the results were not significant, results showed that males (M =
40.87, SE = 2.38) tended to rate the women as more attractive than females (M =
39.36, SE = 1.47)
 I was also able to observe that African Americans (M = 41.46, SE = 2.61) rated the
images as more attractive than Caucasians (M = 40.06, SE = 1.07). These results are
depicted in Figure 2.
Figure 2

11. Discussion
 Overall, the study found that there was not a significant statistical
difference between the attractiveness of light and dark skin women
 However, the study did show that on average the lighter skinned
woman received higher ratings than the darker skinned woman
 The study showed that females, regardless of race, tended to rate
the images of the lighter skin toned women as more attractive than
the darker skinned images; with Caucasian women giving higher
ratings to the women overall
 The ratings of the men tended to differ based off of race. African
American men rated the dark skinned women as more attractive
than the lighter skinned women
 Caucasian men rated the light skinned woman as more attractive
than the images of the dark skinned women.
 Additionally, African American men gave these women higher
ratings overall, than the Caucasian men

12. Future Research
 In the future a larger and more diverse sample would be
used
 I would use digitally altered images in order to control
facial features and make for a more accurate analysis on
the effects of skin tone on beauty
 Future research could be done in schools and the work
place to determine the effects of skin tone bias on
employment, incident reports, job satisfaction, customer
service, achievement and salary

13. Why is this important?
 Beauty is one of the main sources of confidence
 Confidence reflects performance from the workplace (i.e.:
raise, performance, promotions) to other interpersonal interactions
 We tend to identify with those that look closer to ourselves
 With the majority of our interactions occurring at work, in stores
etc., the topic could be a potential spearhead for a diversity
management model for companies
 This model would be used to help train employees to become more
aware of themselves as well as any bias’, possibly improving their
interactions with one another as well as their customers
 These worker could apply this training to their daily lives as well
 This model would spread awareness of the issue in places and
between people in industries all around in hopes for improved
relations and higher self esteem reports of African Americans in
general

14. Take Home Message
 Although skin tone bias is not as much of a problem as it
has been in history this research is important in that
skin tone bias affects not only effects how African
American’s are treated but it effects them
personally, socially, and economically as well

15. References
 McCain, T. A., & McCroskey, J. C. (1974). The measurement of
interpersonal attraction. Communication Monographs, 41, 261-266
 Robinson, T. L., & Ward, J. V. (1995). African American adolescents and
skin color. Journal of Black Psychology, 21(3), 256-274.
 Rosenberg, J., & Snider, Stefanie. R. (2006). The relationship of skin tone
and hair to perceived beauty among African American university
students. The University of Alabama McNair Journal, 6, 201-211.