Carey Ryan, professor of psychology at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, presented newly gathered data in a lecture titled, “Intergroup Perceptions, Multiculturalism and Cultural Orientation Among Latinos and non-Latinos in the U.S,” to an attentive audience in Horticulture Hall on Thursday.

Her lecture was followed by Stephen Quintana, professor of educational psychology at the University of Wisconson-Madison, who discussed his findings from question and answer sessions with Latino and white children about their perception of race and ethnicity.

The lectures were part of the diversity lecture series, hosted by the department of psychology and sponsored by the Multicultural Student Programming Advisory Council and the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research.

Ryan surveyed volunteers from Latino American and non-Latino white ethnic groups for her main study.

She asked the groups about their views on stereotypes, multiculturalism and their views on other ethnic groups, as well as their own group.

“Whites who had a stronger color-blind ideology, also had stronger stereotypes,” Ryan said.

A color-blind ideology, Ryan explained, is ignoring ethnicity and not acknowledging differences between races, whereas multicultural ideology promotes the recognition of differences among ethnic groups. The color-blind ideology was most common among whites.

“A few studies have found that ethnic minorities endorse multiculturalism more than non-minorities,” Ryan said.

Stereotypes are not inherently a bad thing, Ryan said, because if stereotypes were non-existent, then it would be impossible to navigate the social world.

“It’s not always a bad thing, and they’re not always inaccurate, and they are not always addressed at the group level,” Ryan said.

Ryan cited one study that asked black and white participants to communicate with each other in an observed setting.

“It actually impaired [whites’] performance because they were trying to ignore ethnic group membership. To suggest that you don’t recognize that somebody appears different is really quite unrealistic,” Ryan said.

“In another study of an elementary school in Pittsburgh, the color-blind ideology was so strong there that the children did not even know that Martin Luther King was black.”

Quintana spoke about the tendency of children to base their ideas of race and ethnicity on physical characteristics because they do not have a full understanding of the complex issues of ethnicity. He gave an example of an experience he had when talking to white children who were raising money for a new playground.

“They mentioned that they didn’t want the Mexican kids across the street to use the playground,” Quintana said. “The reason they gave me is that if the Mexican kids went down the slide, then the brown part of their skin might come off and get onto other children.”

The children, Quintana speculated, must have been exposed to racism and they believed it in a very literal way.

The children took what they heard literally, even though they probably didn’t have any animosity toward the Mexican children themselves.