| Abstract: | Skin tone research often addresses the effects of skin tone on prejudice and discriminatory practices. Empirical research has persistently investigated skin tone and its effect on prejudice, discriminatory practices, and sentencing outcomes. Using college students as raters, the present study examined the relationship between skin tone, trustworthiness, and innocence. A total of 139 college students at a Southern University observed 417 photos of capital murderers of varying skin tones to determine whether they appeared to be trustworthy and innocent. The study results revealed that college student raters, regardless of race, were more likely to rate dark-skinned individuals higher on both the trustworthiness and innocence scales than light skin individuals. The current study demonstrated that college students, in comparison to other groups, may respond less negative to skin tone variations. |
