Looking Hateworthy: An Investigation of the Relationship Between Chinese Phenotypicality and COVID-19-Related Prejudice and Discrimination

• Author: Samuel Choi,Kayla A. Burd,Alice Choi
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221138962
• Published date: 01 January 2023
• Date: 01 January 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Looking Hateworthy:

An Investigation of the

Relationship Between

Chinese Phenotypicality and

COVID-19-Related Prejudice

and Discrimination

Samuel Choi

1

, Kayla A. Burd

1

,

and Alice Choi

2

Abstract

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been an increasing number of hate

crimes perpetrated against Chinese and non-Chinese Asian Americans. Some hate

incidents suggest that Chinese Asian Americans have been mainly targeted followed

by non-Chinese Asian Americans. The present study examined the inf‌luence of victim

Chinese phenotypicality (CP) and participant individual differences on COVID-19-

related prejudice and discrimination. Participants were presented with a mock

news story detailing a restaurant employee (varying in CP) who tested positive for

COVID-19 but went to work despite warnings to quarantine and allegedly spread

COVID-19 to other employees and customers. CP was manipulated through photo-

graphs embedded within the mock news story of the employee (White (control) vs.

Low CP vs. High CP). After reading the news story, participants completed measures

of prejudice and discrimination endorsement along with measures of individual differ-

ences. Results revealed that CP inf‌luenced prejudice and support for discrimination,

but only for individuals with certain characteristics (e.g., low income). The f‌indings

highlight individual difference characteristics among perpetrators of prejudice and dis-

crimination against Asian Americans, in addition to phenotypic variations among

those who may be victims of hate related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

1

Department of Psychology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA

2

Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

Corresponding Author:

Samuel Choi, Department of Psychology, University of Wyoming; 1000 E University Ave, Laramie, WY,

82071, USA.

Email: schoi6@uwyo.edu

Article

Race and Justice

2023, Vol. 13(1) 105-129

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/21533687221138962

journals.sagepub.com/home/raj

Keywords

Asian Americans, hate crimes, hate incidents, COVID-19, prejudice, discrimination,

phenotypicality

Although Chinese individuals and Chinese Americans are not to blame for the pan-

demic, COVID-19 was f‌irst discovered in China. Perhaps because of the location of

this discovery, there has been an increasing number of hate behaviors (e.g., shunning)

targeted against Chinese (Yellow Horse et al., 2021) as well as non-Chinese Asian

Americans (Ruiz et al., 2020). While Chinese and non-Chinese Asian Americans

have been increasingly likely to encounter hate events during the pandemic,

Chinese Americans have experienced a majority of hate incidents against Asian

Americans (43.5%), followed by Korean (16.8%), Filipino (9.1%), Japanese (8.6%),

Vietnamese (8.2%), and other Asian Americans (Yellow Horse et al., 2021). This is

a disproportionate majority as Chinese Americans only comprise of 24% of the

Asian population in the United States (Budiman & Ruiz, 2021).

According to the Stop AAPI Hate organization, of the total anti-China rhetoric

reported by Asian Americans, roughly half have been directed at Chinese Americans,

with the other half targeted toward non-Chinese Asian Americans, involving phrases

like “f**k China”and “the Chinese invented the virus”(Borja et al., n.d.; Ren &

Feagin, 2021, p. 750). Thus, anti-China bias appears to be largely targeted at Chinese

Americans rather than Asian Americans more broadly. What could explain this dispar-

ity? It is possible that perpetrators are more likely to express anti-Chinese sentiment

towards Asian Americans who appear to be higher in Chinese phenotypicality (CP),

the appearance of being Chinese.

To date, no known research has empirically examined whether CP may be predic-

tive of an increased likelihood of experiencing hate behaviors, particularly during the

pandemic. Therefore, the aims of the current study were to explicitly test whether the

appearance of being Chinese could increase the odds of encountering hate related to

the COVID-19 pandemic and what individual differences (e.g., xenophobia) might

exacerbate these odds.

Racial Phenotypicality and its Relation to Prejudice and Discrimination

To our knowledge, there is no psychological literature examining the association

between Chinese phenotypicality and COVID-19-associated prejudice and discrimina-

tion. However, related research investigating the effect of Asian phenotypicality on

racism found that Asian phenotypicality in Asian males is negatively associated

with attractiveness in Westerners (Thai et al., 2020; Wilkins et al., 2011). Other

research suggests that f‌irst-generation Asian females with smaller eyes experience

more blatant racism (e.g., called names such as “chink”) than later-generation Asian

females with smaller eyes (Lee & Thai, 2015, p. 245). Thus, research suggests that

Asian Americans experience prejudice (e.g., rated less attractive) and discrimination

(e.g., receiving blatantly racist comments) related to their appearance.

106 Race and Justice 13(1)